Black Heir
by Hawk
Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...
1. Chapter 1

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Prologue:

_Hello Harry._

You reading this, means that I've croaked and will now be spending my days pushing up the daisies, assuming there's anything left of me to bury or my corpse wasn't so horrifyingly mutilated that I had to be cremated. Life sucks and then you die, huh? Well, I hope that dying will at the very least be more interesting then being cooped up here at HQ for the rest of my life and that I sodded off in some spectacular manner rather then falling down a stair or something equally boring and mundane.

Sorry for bailing out and leaving you on your own like this, but I'm guessing that I had no choice in the matter. Or if I went as I've always wanted and imagined, dehydrated with heart-failure between the legs of a curvy witch after a marathon shagging session, that I had a choice but decided to risk it anyway. I always did imagine myself being older tho, but if you're reading this, I guess not since I plan on switching this letter out from time to time.

Anyway kiddo, since I've got few people other then Remus that I'm particularly close to, I figured that I might just as well leave most of my crap to you. You will no doubt be contacted by Gringotts before long for the fiscal matters. The Black family has a vault there and I've got one of my own as well that I arranged for after leaving home.

Mine doesn't contain much of anything that'll be of interest, besides money, which I'm guessing can be interesting enough on its own. But it also contains my prized collection of dirty magazines! I particularly recommend you to check out the Playwizard magazines from the first half of 1981. Great stuff! Since it's my own and I can do whatever I want with it, no problems there. Other then a few picture albums and some of my school things which will go to Remus, everything else to be found there is yours.

It's the Black family vault, that can cause problems and may be of more interest to you. Though it can also be a great threat, should it fall into wrong hands. You may have to resort to rather drastic measures to prevent this from happening. I have willed it to you, but there could be issues with that as others have claims that might be viewed then stronger then yours. I'm sorry for leaving you with such a horrid task, but let me assure you that allowing the Black family vault to fall into the wrong hands would be a monumental disaster.

Since you aren't born into the Black family, my will can and probably will be contested. Both Andromeda, Nymphadora, Narcissa and Bellatrix can claim that they should be the ones to get it. Bellatrix probably doesn't stand a chance of doing so, considering what she is. Showing up at the Wizengamot to contest the will, would likely be the death or at least capture of her. Andromeda and Nymphadora probably doesn't want more then I've already left them with in the first place, so no fear there either unless you've pissed these two lovely ladies off somehow.

Narcissa on the other hand married into the Malfoy family and Lucius still has considerable clout in our legal and political system, despite his semi-known status as a Death Eater. If he gets his hands on the vault through Narcissa, Voldemort will gain even more power that may well cause all to be lost. This is what you must strive to prevent at any cost. ANY cost.

To assist you in this, I've picked up two things from the vault and enclosed them with this letter.

One of them, is Narcissa Black's marriage contract. In article four of paragraph six, it clearly states that her marriage to Lucius Malfoy will become null and void should he be convicted for any major crime. As that would leave him inappropriate to provide her with continuous support, as well as slander her 'good' name, casting a shadow over the Black family as well ( as if one wasn't already there to begin with... ). Should he wind up in prison for anything greater then tax evasion, the marriage will be over and Narcissa will return to being a Black again. Any lawyer worth his or her salt can have this arranged for in less then a week.

The second thing, is Narcissa Black's Oath of Loyalty. A magical contract employed by certain full-blood families, including the Black family, to ensure the loyalty of those family members we marry into other families. It can be used to completely and utterly control the ones who have signed the contract, like Narcissa did before she married Malfoy. I was both surprised and disgusted to find it in the family vault, but I guess it could come in handy, so I refrained from destroying it.

Should Malfoy become convicted, you can use the marriage contract to have his marriage to Narcissa dissolved and use the Oath to ensure that she doesn't contest my will on her own. I doubt that she is a Death Eater herself, though her already strong sympathies for the cause may have grown even stronger from her long association with Lucius Malfoy. Should he be killed, or perhaps he already has been killed ( If I got a shot at him after writing this, I hope he's already out of the picture or I'll be seriously miffed that a ponce like that got away from me! ), you can use the Oath to keep her away from the vault as well. If he's still alive and at large, the Oath could be used to make Narcissa turn on Lucius and testify against him to get him convicted. She no doubts knows at the very least one thing that could be used to put him away for good.

I know that you probably find even the notion of doing this repulsive, as did I when I first conceived of the notion. Narcissa might not be the nicest of people out there, but she is my cousin and I still recall the little girl I played with when I was younger. I couldn't bring myself to use it, but I am hoping that you can although I deeply regret handing that responsibility over to you. Because trust me on this. whatever it takes to prevent the vault from falling into Voldemorts hands through Lucius, is more then worth it. If he gets his hands on the vault and the items therein, the struggle against him will be made all the more difficult, perhaps even putting him beyond your and the Orders reach permanently.

Other then this warning and the repulsive task I've unfortunately had to leave for you to deal with, I wish you the best of luck and pray that your life will be much happier then mine was. I have no sons or daughters ( that I know of ), but rest assured that I care just as much for you as if you had sprung from my own loins.

Love always, your fairy dogfather.

Sirius Black

PS!  
You may want to drop by a store called Horncrow's in Knockturn Alley at some point, I've left something there for you to pick up.  
DS!  


Harry just sat in silence, staring quietly at the letter that had been left sticking inside the lid of his school trunk. He could feel the faint renemnants of magic on the paper, most likely some sort of notice-me-not-charm or other that had run out of magical juice by now, as he'd never seen the letter before when he opened his trunk.

He felt numb, removed from his emotions and feelings, though he was faintly aware of the fact that tears were trickling down his cheeks. /Sirius.../

It was strange, he figured, that he'd gotten so attached to his godfather.

They hadn't known each other for very long and their interactions had been brief and far between. But ever since Sirius had offered to take him away from the Dursley's, Sirius Black had become a person that Harry admired and cared for a great deal. But although he liked and probably even loved the man more then most for offering him the possibility of escaping the Dursley's forever, he found it hard to loose the detachment he felt.

He still felt faintly detached as he removed two rolls of parchment from the lid of the trunk that hadn't been visible before he spotted the letter. He unrolled one of them and found, as promised, a marriage contract for the union between Narcissa Black and Lucius Malfoy. It was long, incredibly detailed and was signed at the bottom by both Narcissa, Lucius and their respective parents, as well as sporting the wax seals of the family Black and family Malfoy.

The second roll, revealed the Oath of Loyalty for Narcissa Black, signed in blood and with a much more childish signature then Narcissa had used for her marriage contract. Judging from the date it was signed, he guessed that she had been very young when she signed it, probably before she even started Hogwarts. Harry felt absently horrified, still somewhat removed from his emotions, as he slowly read through the nasty document and wondered if she had even known what she was signing at the time she did it or if her parents had just put it in front of her and asked her to sign.

Because this was by far worse then any Imperious and he couldn't imagine any informed and reasonably sane person signing such a thing.

The scroll was incredibly long, but most of it was empty. The first part of it, was the Oath of Loyalty itself, detailing that the signee agreed to let herself or himself be bound by whatever instructions were written down in the empty space on the rest of the scroll. Whoever held the scroll, could control the actions, thoughts, emotions, body and basically the entirety of Narcissa Black, merely by writing something down.

If he wrote that Narcissa should die a slow and painful death, she would. If he wrote down that she should feel an irresistible craving for a Butterbeer at six o clock every Thursday evening, she'd have one every Thursday evening at six, unless physically prevented or otherwise unable to do so. If he wrote it down, she'd become a die-hard Chudley Cannons supporter for life. If he instructed her to, she'd strangle Draco in his sleep and then forget all about ever doing so. If he put it into writing, she'd loose her magical ability permanently.

The only instruction she'd ever been given through the OoL, was apparently 'Never betray the secrets of the Black family or official members in good standing thereof, no matter the situation or incentive.', as that was the only thing written after the OoL. While that didn't sound so bad at first glance, it was still removal of free will and the fact that someone so young had their free will taken away from them by their own family non the less, disgusted him something awful.

He wondered if the instruction would hold up to a session with Veritaserum in a court of law or not, before he shook his head and carefully rolled up the parchment again, putting it back into his trunk along with the marriage contract.

Instead he picked up the letter and read it over and over again, tears still emerging and slowly trailing down his cheeks.

Finally he found himself unable to keep on reading and moved over to the window, looking out over the yard, though the occasional tear still slowly trickled down his cheeks.

The End! ( For now... )


	2. Chapter 2

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Chapter One:

"Mr Harry James Potter?" a posh cultured voice suddenly inquired and Harry spun around, staring with horrified fascination at the pin-stripe suit-wearing attache-case-carrying goblin standing before him, apparently completely unconcerned at standing right out in the open for any sharp-eyed Muggle to see right in the middle of the Dursley backyard at number four Privet Drive.

While Harry was sort of pleased to see something with a connection to the Wizarding world as he had been prevented from leaving Privet Drive by the most suspicious of events, he would have preferred something more subtle then a Goblin to break his suspiciously Muggle summer! It seemed like every time he tried to leave number four, something outrageously unlikely would happen. That one time when he walked into an invisible barrier, had been the end of his attempts to leave, as it at that point had been blatantly obvious that he was prevented from doing so by magical means. He had tried to find and talk with his Order guards, but hadn't found any of them so far. To top it all off, Hedwig had gone missing after he had sent her to the Weasley's asking them if they knew a good lawyer he could get in touch with.

Thus leaving him with no way to get in touch with the Wizarding world and following Sirius instructions.

But he would have preferred it if a possible connection to the Wizarding world hadn't showed up in the Dursley backyard, while his relatives were still at home!

"What are you doing here?" Harry hissed in a strained tone of voice. "What if somebody sees you?!" he demanded to know.

"Muggles cannot see or hear me. It is a precaution we take whenever entering the Muggle world." the goblin replied unconcernedly. "Are you Mister Harry James Potter?" he inquired.

"Yes." Harry whispered in response, fearful of being overheard by the Dursley's while conversing with a goblin they couldn't see or hear.

"I am called Fistfang, Mr Potter." the goblin introduced himself. "I am a barrister in the employ of Gringott's." he explained and pulled out a scroll from the dirt-brown attache-case he was carrying, glancing down at it after he'd unrolled part of it, before he nodded and put it back into his attache-case. "As instructed by Mr Sirius Orion Black, I am here to make an appointment with you."

"Sirius arranged this?" Harry asked, feeling as if a fist was slowly closing in over his heart at the mention of his recently deceased godfather.

"Yes. Mr Black instructed me to seek you out on the day three weeks after his passing from this world, as you would have some legal matters to discuss with me at that point. He specifically instructed me to handle everything concerning you in person, as he feared that owls would be intercepted by 'a meddlesome overprotective headmaster or his unthinking goons'." Fistfang replied. "I was lead to believe that your business with me involved a marriage?" he prompted after Harry failed to respond. "If so, I believe congratulations are in order?"

"I'm not getting married." Harry slowly responded, fearfully looking around for any sign of the Dursley's or his guardians from the Order.

"As per Mr Black's instructions, I have put your relatives and your unwanted guardians to sleep for the duration of our meeting." Fistfang explained. "We will not be disturbed, Mr Potter."

"Oh." Harry replied, exhaling with relief as he realized that he was likely safe. "I'm not getting married." he repeated and took a deep breath. He still wasn't sure that this was the right thing to do, but Sirius had entrusted him with the job and seemed to believe that it had to be done. Harry really wished that he knew what sort of things were in the Black Vault that made it so important to prevent it from falling into the Dark Lords hands, but unfortunately, Sirius had been pretty vague about it. It would feel better if he knew the reason why he was breaking up a family like this. While he loathed Lucius, detested Draco and Narcissa hadn't really impressed from what little he'd seen of her in person, he'd still be using magical means to force the family apart. It would have been nice to actually know the reason why he was doing so, as it might have made it easier to force himself to go through with it. "Please, come with me. There is a marriage I want annulled. The marriage contract in question is in my room." he explained with a tired sigh and took Fistfang to his room, where he turned over the marriage contract to the small goblin, who hastily read through the contract with practised eyes hastily seeking out the pertinent parts and merely skimming through the rest.

"This seems rather clear-cut, Mr Potter. If I am allowed to proceed at once, I see no insurmountable obstacles." Fistfang commented unconcernedly. "Mr Malfoy has currently been convicted for his crimes at the Department of Mysteries. His lawyer has contested the ruling in an appeal however and if I may say so myself, I believe the new ruling will go Mr Malfoy's way. After the second ruling, I can do nothing as long as Mrs Malfoy is still willing to be married to Mr Malfoy. It is my recommendation that I am allowed to file the paperwork post-haste, before Mr Malfoy goes up in court again on the second of next month."

"How could it go his way?! He's a Death Eater!" Harry complained. "Oh, wait. He's bribed or threatened the court?" he asked with a disgusted expression.

"I am not at liberty to say if your guess is correct or not. But it is my belief that all charges will be lifted upon the second trial." Fistfang replied neutrally and Harry grunted. The goblins were neutral, caring little about the affairs of the Wizarding world. They knew a whole lot, but getting them to give an edge to one or the other side in any conflict, was almost impossible.

In fact, he was surprised that Fistfang had mentioned anything at all about a second trial for Lucius and the possible outcome of it. Sirius must have paid an awful lot to secure the services of this particular barrister.

"Then I want you to go ahead and get the marriage annulled as fast as possible." Harry said.

"Is it your intent to wed Ms Black upon her divorce? In that case, I should also arrange for your emancipation at the same time so you can sign your own wedding license. Otherwise, I would need a signed form of consent from your legal guardians for the wedding license, which presents a problem at the moment. Sirius would have been your legal guardian as stated in your parents will, but due your unusual situation, he was only your guardian in the Wizarding world. In the Muggle world, it's your aunt who is your legal guardian." Fistfang started.

Harry yelped in shock as Fistfang wondered if he would be marrying Draco's mom, but he hastily collected himself and then listened with great interest as Fistfang continued to speak without caring about Harry's brief outburst.

"I'm not planning to marry her." Harry firmly replied. "Could I be emancipated anyway?" he asked eagerly, never having really considered that an option before.

"It is within the realms of possibility, but in no way assured. As long as we have Petunia Dursley's written signature on the correct documents, I can arrange your Muggle Emancipation. It's the Wizarding one that can cause some complications." Fistfang said and took a small breath. "If you were to request Wizarding Emancipation without a reasonable cause like an upcoming marriage or becoming Heir to one of the Wizengamot families, it could be contested in the Wizarding world. Especially as a Mr Albus Dumbledore has recently put forth a request to be named your legal guardian in the Wizarding world. His name carries some weight in the community and as you're still a minor in both Muggle and Wizard communities, his request is likely to be granted over your request for Emancipation."

"It's rather murky situation at the moment." Fistfang commented and stretched out his long Goblin tongue which he used to scratch his own nose, simultaneously revealing his gleaming razor-sharp teeth and a tongue-stud in silver piercing his tongue. "With Sirius dead and leaving most everything to you, including the Black Family Wizengamot Seat, a Wizarding Emancipation due to you being the sole Heir of a Wizengamot Family wouldn't be a problem. But as you have been raised in the Muggle world, some rather obscure laws come into play that prevents your Emancipation for that reason. As long as you're underage, you require a Pureblood Guardian to handle your Wizengamot affairs and thus, the law doesn't apply to you." Fistfang continued and crossed his arms behind his back.

"So, the answer is that you could possibly get an Emancipation anyway depending on what sort of opposition such an application would face. It's a long-shot, but it is possible if it slips underneath the notice of anyone interested in preventing it. But most likely your request would be denied due to the Wizengamot by-laws concerning Muggle-raised wizards and witches and Mr Albus Dumbledore would be assigned as your Wizarding Guardian." the goblin finished with a slightly bored expression.

"Dumbledore wants to be my guardian?" Harry mumbled in confusion, not quite knowing what to think about that.

"In the Wizarding world, yes. He has specifically requested that Petunia Dursley remain your legal guardian in the Muggle world." Fistfang explained.

"So, he'd probably still send me here over the summers." Harry muttered, suddenly feeling an intense dislike for the headmaster of Hogwarts instead of his earlier confusion. "Why haven't I been told about this?"

"You should have received at least an owl regarding the matter. Procedure also calls for Mr Dumbledore to have discussed this issue with you before filing the paperwork. Has this not been done?" Fistfang asked.

"No." Harry replied angrily. "Can I contest it?"

"Yes. You could file for your Emancipation, but like I said, Mr Dumbledore's request is likely to be granted over yours unless there is due cause for your Emancipation. Somebody else could also file a request to be made your legal guardian. In that case, the court will have to decide which guardian would be most likely to provide you with a secure and loving home." Fistfang explained.

"You didn't seem to have any concerns about my Emancipation when you talked about a possible marriage." Harry interjected.

"That is because then you would be Emancipated due to an upcoming marriage. Then it could be argued that your wife would function as your legal guardian, as well as provide you with a secure and loving home. While you would be legally considered adult, you would also have a wife to care for you and hold your leash, so to speak. No matter how respected Mr Dumbledore is, it would be hard to argue that he would be better able to provide a loving home for you then your wife." Fistfang responded. "That would also render the Wizengamot Muggle-raised bylaws null and void, as those only apply to underage wizards and witches. If you marry and become Emancipated, you're an adult and can assume your seat on the Wizengamot."

"How much time do I have until Dumbledore's request is processed?" Harry asked.

"A date has not yet been set and he does not yet seem inclined to use his considerable influence to speed the process up. I would guess anywhere between three to seven weeks, pending on the workload at the Ministry." Fistfang answered.

"If I were to divorce after my Emancipation has been granted, would that affect my Emancipation in any way?" Harry asked.

"Not directly as such, no. By then, you would already have been granted your Emancipation and would be seen as a legal adult. That would only be removed in the most dire of circumstances, such as physical or mental inability to live a normal life. Then it may be taken away from you and a legal guardian would be assigned to you." was the goblins response. "Of course, it only takes a word from say the Minister of Magic or the Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot to start an investigation into the matter of your physical and mental inability to live a normal life."

"How long would it take to get Narcissa out of her marriage to Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"Not long. I could have the paperwork filed by the end of the day. Anywhere between one to four days for it to be processed, is my estimation. Both the Malfoy and Black names would assure that the red tape is cut pretty much the very instant it reaches the hands of a clerk." Fistfang replied.

"Then file it as soon as possible. Then file for my Emancipation, the reason being that I will be getting married to Narcissa Black, a respected adult witch more then capable of providing me with a secure and loving home." Harry instructed the ambulance-chasing goblin after he had taken a few moments to gather his resolve.

Or whatever lawyers chased in the Wizarding world. Portkeys, brooms or the Knight Bus, perhaps?

"Very well." Fistfang agreed. "I will require a signed form of consent from Petunia Dursley for your Muggle Emancipation. You will also have to sign a petition requesting a Wizarding Emancipation due to your upcoming marriage. Until Dumbledore or somebody else is named your legal guardian, you are temporarily able to sign a handful of your own legal documents, petitions for Emancipation are amongst them, while forms of consent for Emancipations aren't, which is why you're unable to sign for your own Wizarding Emancipation. I will also require a Wizarding marriage license, which will require both yours and Narcissa's signatures. Yours would have to be dated after your Emancipation has been granted, for legal reasons. As owls seem to have a tendency not to reach their destination when sent to you, hence my unannounced arrival, I will be back in person later in the day with the paperwork."

"Excellent. How much do I owe you for your services?" Harry asked.

"Nothing as of yet. Mr Black has paid me for a week of premium services on your behalf. For anything above that, I will require seventy-five galleons a day for my work if I am to devote my entire attention to you, or eight galleons an hour if your task only occupies part of my day. Is that acceptable?"

"It's perfect." Harry agreed, mentally offering up a heart-felt thank you to his deceased godfather. "You cannot be seen, either by my relatives or the guard or guards' outside." he added.

"All Gringott employees pride ourselves on our discretion and devotion to our clients needs for privacy. You can count on me, Mr Potter." Fistfang replied with a faintly offended expression.

"Thank you, Fistfang."

"No problem, Mr Potter."

* * *

Fistfang returned in less then fifteen minutes with the legal documents and also received some additional requests from Harry, then proceeded to awaken the unconscious Dursley's and whatever guard or guards there were outside, before he popped out of existence with the goblin version of Apparition after Harry had asked him to return in the evening the day after to collect the Emancipation consent form.

Harry wanted to rush down and push the paperwork onto Petunia immediately, but decided to wait. Vernon would be going to work in the morning and Dudley likely had plans with his circle of friends/bullies/morons, so there was a chance he might get to talk with his aunt alone. While there was no love between the two of them, she could on occasion be faintly more reasonable without the other two Dursley's around.

He would try that first and if that failed, he could appeal to uncle Vernon and play on the fact that this was their chance to be rid of 'the freak' and his connection to everything magic for good.

If that failed, he would have to put himself in risk of danger by making a nuisance of himself, until the Dursley's wanted nothing more then to be rid of him forever. It would be dangerous, but with what was at stake, Harry was willing to take that chance.

If his Emancipation went through, he'd never *ever* have to see the Dursley's again and he'd be somewhat free of Fumblebores manipulations to boot, able to make his own decisions!

He spent the rest of the day either doing chores or reading the fine print on the Oath of Loyalty, learning what was possible to do with it and what couldn't be done.

Like he'd first thought, this document granted a disgusting amount of control over whomever had signed it and he couldn't help but wonder why these kind of things hadn't been outlawed, as this granted a far greater amount of control then the Imperious spell. And not just to the one who cast the spell either, but anyone who got their hands on one. If somebody broke into a pure-blooded home and got their hands on documents like these, entire families could be brought to ruin. All completely undetectable. Imperious were for amateurs, this was the real deal and it still hadn't been deemed Unforgivable!

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that whomever signed this Oath had to agree to it of their own free will. From what he understood by reading the fine print, it couldn't be signed while under magical influence, no matter if it was due to a spell or a potion. It didn't say anything about non-magical means of persuasion however and he wondered if that was because that obviously wouldn't work either or because nobody had considered that a knife to the throat might work just as well as forcing somebody to sign with a spell, curse, hex or charm. Or when the signer was too young to realize what they were doing, as it seemed was the case with Narcissa. After comparing her birth date from her marriage contract with the date she had signed the disgusting Oath, he had discovered that she'd only been six years old when she signed it.

There were limits to what could be done with it, however. While it could be used to lessen or entirely remove magical skills and talents, it couldn't add to them. So while he could turn Narcissa into a squib, he couldn't turn her into the world's most talented witch or even make her know a spell she previously hadn't known about.

That was a recurring theme when it came to the Oath. It was possible to lessen or remove, but not add. The only exceptions to this, were changes to the body and emotions. He could both shrink and enlarge her, he could add boils that hadn't been there before or he could remove those that were already present. He could make her change her opinions about things, even things she hadn't previously known about. So even if she'd never heard of Muggle Cricket before, he could make her either hate or love the game with a passion. She still wouldn't know anything about it if she didn't already, but if she ever came into contact with it, she would either love or hate it based on what the Oath ordered her to feel about the game.

It was a truly horrifying document and he felt both extremely terrified over the power he now wielded over Narcissa, as well as a horribly imposing sense of responsibility. With the power to make or break her in his hands, it was now on his head to use that power responsibly. And he was planning to abuse it the very first thing he did. He absently wondered what Sirius would think about this, but considering the fact that the old prankster had found himself unable to use the Oath for anything at all, even a prank, Harry guessed that Sirius would be horrified at what Harry was planning to use it for.

The morning after, he cooked breakfast for the Dursley's as usual and returned to his room afterwards, waiting until Vernon had left for work and Dudley staggered off to head to an Arcade with his equally mentally challenged circle of morons.

It took him nearly twenty minutes after Dudley had left, before he finally managed to gather enough courage to seek out his Aunt Petunia, nervously carrying the form of consent for his Emancipation. He found her in the living room, sitting on the couch while reading one of the tabloids that she was secretly fascinated by, while publicly denouncing them to everybody who cared to listen to her on the subject.

"Aunt Petunia?" Harry stated neutrally from the doorway to the living room and she hastily put away the tabloid, hiding it behind her back in a fairly unstealthy manner.

"What do you want?!" she demanded angrily, a hint of blush at her cheeks at having been caught reading a tabloid.

"I just received word that my headmaster, Dumbledore, intends to have me staying here more then usual next year and have a couple of bodyguards around at all times, 'for my safety'." Harry informed her, a concept which made Petunia cringe and pale with horror. "I don't agree with what he has to say on the subject and being home schooled isn't what I want at all, but until I'm considered a legal adult, he's well within his Wizarding rights to make me do as he wants." Harry lied.

"He can't, can he?!" Petunia demanded in a shrill, nervous, voice. Her complexion had turned almost completely white at the notion of Harry being home schooled.

"For as long as I'm a minor, he can." Harry stated and handed Petunia the legal document he was carrying. "I'm sure you would all like to go back to a normal non-magic life without me in it and I would like to go back to the Wizarding world and never have to leave it. But until I'm Emancipated, I cannot and will have to stay at least six months here over the next year, surrounded by Dumbledores loyal wizards to keep an eye on me and train me in the subjects I would be missing at school."

"What's this?" Petunia asked, too nervous and intimidated by the notion of having an additional couple of wizards around the house on a regular basis to properly make sense of the document she was holding.

"It's an Emancipation form. If you signed it, I would be considered a legal adult and could move away from here on my own. You would never have to see me again." Harry replied.

"You, an adult?" Petunia snorted.

"It's the only way. Until I am free to make my own decisions, Dumbledore can make them for me and have the Wizarding legal system enforce his decisions." Harry responded. "If the push comes to shove, he could ask the Wizarding police force to post our version of bobbies outside to keep me here against my will." he added, a notion which caused Petunia to pale even further as the image of wizarding cops in robes camped out in front of their normal home while Harry studied magic inside came to her mind.

"Why would he do something like that?!" Petunia nearly shrieked. "We'd be the laughingstock of the community!"

"He believes that the same man who killed my parents, is going to try and kill me as well. Staying here is supposed to be 'safer' for me then staying elsewhere." Harry replied.

"Kill you? There might be a wizard coming here, to kill you?" Petunia asked.

"Dumbledore thinks so. That's why he wants to have me constantly surrounded by other wizards while staying here, as staying with my mom's sister is supposed to increase my magical protection against the man who killed her." Harry replied.

"Staying here makes you more of a freak then you already are?!" Petunia asked, but didn't wait for a response. Instead she grabbed a pen she used to solve crossword puzzles from the table and hastily scribbled down her signature on the document without even reading through it all. She pushed the paper at Harry, who hastily accepted it and just barely managed to suppress a smile as he saw her name written on the dotted line at the end.

This was it.

He was now well on his way to freedom.

"Thank you. It will take a few days for the red tape to be cleared away, but after that, I will be moving out of here. Forever." Harry informed his Aunt, who nodded so quickly that he feared that her head might be in danger of coming loose from her neck.

Harry practically skipped back up to his room, before he gazed upon the Oath of Loyalty, which caused his happy mood to evaporate.

While he would be incredibly happy to be Emancipated, having to marry Draco's mother through mental manipulation to gain that Emancipation really soured it for him.

Had it been anyone else, he never would have considered it, not for Sirius, not for himself.

No way in hell.

And he still had really serious doubts about it now, when it was the wife of a fucking Death Eater who would have to be sacrificed on the altar of his Emancipation.

"Bugger this." he growled and approached the document on Dudley's old desk, grabbing his quill and feather. "Arrange to slip away and head to number four Privet Drive in Surrey as covertly and soon as possible. You must not be detected by either your son or husband, nor by their associates. Tell no one of where you are really going and take whatever measures necessary to avoid being detected. Stop on the way and pick up engagement rings, the female one should fit yourself. When you arrive at number four Privet Drive, ask to see Harry Potter." he muttered to himself as he wrote down just what he said. "Obey whatever Harry instructs you to do and answer all his questions truthfully." he finished before he put the OoL away in his trunk, locking it away out of his sight.

He felt physically ill, acid rising from his stomach and he really wanted to vomit, but he kept it down and concentrated on taking calming breaths of air until the sensation became manageable.

Though he wondered if he could ever forgive himself for what he'd just done and what he would do in the future.

He supposed that he could try to justify his actions, downplay them. But it really was quite terrible.

He would break up a marriage, mentally coerce somebody into marrying him for no other reason then to gain legal Emancipation in the Wizarding World.

Granted, he had no plans on becoming a rapist by sleeping with her, but he would still break up a marriage and make her waste quite a bit of her time. He'd most of all like to divorce her straight away, but it would probably be for the best to stay married to her until he came of age, just so Fumblebore or Fudgepacker wouldn't be tempted to meddle and have him declared unfit or something to regain control over him.

After all the manipulation he'd been through during his entire life, he wouldn't put it past the old man to meddle again should he divorce Narcissa too soon and he certainly wouldn't put it past Fudge! Now when he acknowledged that Voldemort was back, the minister needed all the support he could get and if he could make himself the legal guardian of Harry Potter, he'd milk the hell out of that situation in the press.

The End! ( For now... )


	3. Chapter 3

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Chapter Two:

+Knock+ +Knock+ +Knock+

"Where's the boy." Vernon muttered, looking up from his newspaper as somebody knocked on the door and Harry wasn't around to open it.

"Up in his room." Petunia answered and sighed. "I'll get it." she offered and put the plate she had been drying down, heading for the front door. "Yes?" she asked as she opened the door and faced a stately woman with enough presence for a full dozen high-born ladies, clad in a flowing white gown that looked really out of place for everyday use, seeming more suited to some black-tie high society event or even a royal ballroom. Petunia unconsciously found herself taking half a step back, take a deep breath and straighten her posture, but realized that no matter what she did, no matter how long she practised, no matter what she wore or whatever she managed to accomplish in life, she'd never gain even a shred of the poise, grace and confidence the other woman carried herself with.

"Greetings. I am here to see Harry Potter." the woman icily informed her, causing Petunia to swallow nervously. Was this one of the freaks? Since she was looking for Harry, she had to be, hadn't she? "You will take me to see him." she added and Petunia found herself nodding before she realized what she had agreed to do.

She briefly considered stopping, turning around and asking the woman just what someone like her wanted with the useless boy, but couldn't bring herself to do so. She headed straight to Harry's room and opened the door without knocking.

"There's a lady here to see you." she informed him, before she headed downstairs without waiting for an answer from the boy. Being around the stately lady made her feel... Uncomfortable and inadequate.

"Who was it?" Vernon asked as Petunia returned to the kitchen.

"Some lady asking for the boy." Petunia replied, shuddering.

"More of them freaks..." Vernon muttered, his veins bulging, before he slowly started to calm down.

"She arrived in a limousine." Petunia said pensively, recalling the car on the street outside.

"What has that pest done now?" Vernon groused, the newspaper creasing in his hands as he clenched his fists. If it hadn't been for the fact that Petunia had assured him that the boy would soon be out of their hair forever, he would have stormed up and demanded some answers, but he managed to control himself.

"I don't know. She didn't say." Petunia replied pensively, still trying to rid herself of the feeling that she wasn't worthy to lick the dirt of the lady's shoes.

* * *

"Potter." Narcissa regally greeted him as she imperiously strode into the room, glancing disdainfully at her surroundings, contempt practically oozing from her at the misery he was living in, before her gaze shifted to him.

"Miss Black." Harry responded and closed the door behind her. He found himself a bit curious and decided to ask her to see what sort of reason she might have fabricated for herself to explain this visit. "To whatever do I owe the honour of this visit?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, pretending that he had no idea what she was doing here.

"I... I'm not quite sure." she reluctantly admitted, seeming somewhat unsure of herself for a few brief moments before she appeared to collect herself. In fact, it seemed as if she was about to leave and she took a step towards the door as Harry decided to interrupt whatever she had been about to do.

"Well, I did have something to ask you anyway, Miss Black, so it's rather fortunate that you decided to grace me with your presence." he stated somewhat mockingly, causing her to stop in mid-stride and pose regally as she regarded him with a superior glare that made it perfectly clear that she regarded him as a being of lower worth.

"Your mind is as feeble as my Draco has always claimed. It's been years since I last answered to the name Black and I'm no miss either." Narcissa acidly replied, making Harry somewhat regretful that he hadn't added 'Be respectful' when he used the OoL earlier.

"I guess you haven't kept up with your correspondence then. Or perhaps you merely haven't been notified yet, but your marriage to Lucius Malfoy has been annulled. You are, once again, Narcissa Cassiopeia Black." Harry informed her, causing a fair amount of shock and consternation in the older woman standing before him.

"What?" she asked in a severely strained tone of voice.

"Lucius is no longer your husband and you are no longer Mrs Malfoy." Harry clarified.

"Oh." she said in a weak voice, seemingly deflating in front of him for a few moments, before she recovered and assumed her superior expression yet again.

"So, since you're now single and fancy-free, I thought it'd be a really good idea for the two of us to get married." Harry continued, causing Narcissa to blink owlishly at him for a few moments, before she started laughing.

"In your demented dreams, Potter!" she retorted and shook her head. "I fear my Draco may have downplayed your mental deficiencies quite a bit, if you actually thought something of the sort would ever take place!" she taunted him, which caused Harry a bit of relief instead of the mortification and ego-deflating Narcissa had no doubted counted on.

She made it oh so much easier for him by acting like this, instead of a more nice and pleasant manner which might have made him feel sorry for her and back out of what he was planning.

"You will agree to marry me, Miss Black. Of that, I have no doubt." Harry told her with a faint smile. "In fact, you find the notion of doing so delightfully appealing. So much, in fact, that you took it upon yourself to get the engagement rings."

She blinked again and her face scrounged up in confusion for a moment, before a weird twisted smile appeared on her face.

Harry was surprised, but realized that while she now thought marrying him was a great idea, her feelings regarding him hadn't changed any. The conflict between the two was most likely greatly confusing for her.

"You will also ignore everything bad Draco and Lucius have ever told you about me, realizing that they're severely biased against me and unlikely to say anything that's actually correct. You will instead form your own opinions in regards to me as time goes on from an objective viewpoint. For now, simply realize that getting married to me is the best possible course of action for you and be pleased by our upcoming nuptials." he told her.

"What... Why... How are you doing this to me?!" Narcissa demanded to know. "Have you put me under the Imperious?!" she snapped, clearly showing that while she couldn't prevent herself from being changed according to his demands, she was aware that there had been a change in her thoughts, views and emotions.

"Keep your voice down." Harry instructed her. "You will not be able to discuss this meeting with anyone but me, either vocally, in writing or through body language. You will also forget everything that was said here and only remember that we got engaged, though you will still follow all the instructions you have been given, even if you cannot consciously remember them."

He got up and moved over to his desk, where he opened one of the drawers and pulled out a thick envelope.

"Here's your key to the apartment in Hogsmeade we have decided to live in and a key to our mutual Gringotts vault." he continued and handed her the envelope, which she opened to find just mentioned keys, as well as the address and some pictures of the apartment. "Tell nobody of where it is."

One of the instructions he had given to Fistfang before he departed for the second time had been to locate a new place to live for Harry and his mind-controlled wife-to-be. Fistfang had appeared earlier to pick up the signed emancipation form, as well as turn over some other items, including two set of keys and some information about the apartment he had procured for them.

He had also arranged for a second vault, jointly owned by Harry and Narcissa, along with two keys for it. Harry had deposited fifty thousand galleons in the new vault, which should be more then enough to last them both through the entire marriage without letting Narcissa know just how much money he actually had. Once he was old enough, he'd let her go and erase everything he'd done to her, so letting her know too much was a seriously bad idea, as she'd likely be somewhat upset at what he'd forced her to go through once she was free.

"You will furnish the apartment for the two of us and arrange for our imminent marriage as soon as possible. Unfortunately, you cannot Owl me at the moment, so any questions or news you have for me will have to go through the goblin barrister Fistfang at Gringotts." he further instructed Narcissa who nodded, but still seemed somewhat apprehensive. "Now, is there anything you want to ask me?"

"Any preferences in regards to the wedding?" Narcissa asked in a strained tone of voice.

"You will arrange for it to be private, simple and as soon as possible." Harry replied, to which he got a pensive expression in response. Clearly, this was not at all what Narcissa had in mind for her second marriage, but she nodded her reluctant agreement.

Not that she had much choice in the matter.

"How many guests?" Narcissa asked, clearly having resigned herself to the situation. Or at the very least decided that trying to fight it at this point, wouldn't do her any good.

She was probably planning on doing so later on, after she'd left. Problem was, at that point, she wouldn't remember much of it and even if she did, Harry didn't think it'd be possible for her to defy the OoL.

"None that doesn't absolutely have to be there for the wedding to go through." Harry replied, to which Narcissa got even more petulant, but she nodded none the less, though she was clearly unhappy about it. "And none that are in any way loyal to your son, husband or Voldemort. They will also have to be the sort that can be completely trusted to keep their big mouths shut about it until after the wedding has already taken place."

"Fine." Narcissa sighed, shaking her head. "Just a witness each, then."

"A witness? Each?" Harry asked, paling slightly. He hadn't counted on that. In fact, he hadn't planned on inviting anybody at all and now he found out that he'd have to bring a witness?

"Yes. It's required." Narcissa responded.

"Oh..." Harry commented despondently, before he brightened up. "Does the witness have to be human or could it be a goblin?" he asked happily as a notion struck him, which caused Narcissa to pale significantly from her already pale self.

"You want to bring some inhuman filth to our wedding?" she yelped in an outraged, albeit carefully moderated for a low volume, voice.

"I don't know who else I can bring that can be trusted." Harry responded evasively. "Is that allowed or does the witness have to be human?" he added.

"It is allowed." Narcissa reluctantly admitted with a disgusted petulant expression, clearly wishing that she had retained her ability to lie to him.

"Great! You will not mind it if I do bring a non-human to the wedding as my witness." Harry exclaimed, a huge load off his mind. Fistfang could be his witness. "Any other questions?" Harry asked.

"No." Narcissa sullenly replied.

"Excellent. Put on your new ring and hand me mine." he told her.

She removed her old rings without being asked to, put on her new engagement ring and Harry accepted his, though he did not put it on. Having nothing else to say to her, he gave her permission to leave, which she instantly did. Breezing out of the house without acknowledging Harry's relatives.

They did not ignore him like Narcissa had done to them, but after informing them that she was there to perform a random check-up on him to see if everything was as it should, fell silent and ignored him for the rest of the day, which was a truly welcome change from how things had been before her arrival.

Two days after that, Fistfang Apparated into Harry's bedroom and informed him that everything had been arranged, that he was an emancipated wizard and that the wedding would take place the very next day.

* * *

"... know why you won't tell me what this is all about!"

Harry stiffened and his eyes widened in sudden fear as he heard an angry voice slowly approaching. He heard a low mumble in response to the loud cry, but not the exact words. He did faintly recognize the mumble as extremely similar to Narcissa's stately voice. The chances were extremely high that she was the one who approached the small room and even if the closed doors did twist sounds somewhat, he was afraid that he knew who the louder voice belonged to as well.

This was bad.

Seriously bad.

"Oh, for crying out loud! Just spit it out, would you? You're killing me here!"

He rushed towards the door and just barely had time to hide behind it as it was opened, he nervously held his breath and waited as two females walked into the room, heading for the confused looking priest who was staring in their direction, wondering what had possessed the groom to rush off like that. Harry's suspicions were confirmed as he identified the two witches who had entered the room. He pushed the door shut with his hip and pointed his wand at the back of Narcissa's companion.

"I can't tell you just yet." Narcissa protested with a faint hint of irritation creeping into her voice.

"Huh? A priest? What are... Waitjustadamnminute! You're not going to force me to marry anyone!" her companion snapped and reached for her left sleeve, presumably to yank out a wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry shouted out and relaxed as she stiffened mid-stride, taken completely unawares as she was suddenly paralyzed from the neck down. He could have left her completely paralyzed, but decided to leave her the use of her head at least.

"Mr Potter?!" the priest exclaimed, taking a step back in surprise.

"Potter? What is the meaning of this?" Narcissa asked, staring in shock at him as he cast a locking charm on the door and turned to face her.

"Why did you bring her?" Harry asked, waving his wand at the frozen pink-haired Auror, Nymphadora Tonks.

"You didn't exactly give me a lot to work with." Narcissa replied sullenly. "I could only bring one person, the witness, as I wasn't allowed anyone not necessary for the wedding to go through. So, just a witness then. Nobody affiliated with Draco, Lucius or You-Know-Who. And they would have to be able to keep the secret of just what was going on until it was over. The first wasn't much of a problem, but the second was as I couldn't be sure that the secret could be kept. So, I had to find someone gullible enough to come with me without being told what for." Narcissa replied. "Hence the presence of my niece who I know for sure isn't involved in anything even remotely dark, goody two-shoes that she is..." she finished her explanation.

"Gull-hey?!" Nymphadora protested at the 'gullible' remark. "And just wait a minute here! Harry! Harry Potter! What do you think you're doing?!" Tonks cried out. "You should be back at your relatives place, under Order guard!"

"Silencio." Harry muttered and sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose for a couple of seconds.

"Father Creed, can we go through with the wedding with one of the witnesses unable to speak up or move?" he asked, looking at the priest.

"Uhm... Ehh..." he stuttered, swallowing nervously and looking between Harry, Narcissa, Fistfang and the petrified Tonks, before he blinked and swallowed again. "Well... It's certainly unconventional, but there's nothing about it that will invalidate the wedding ceremony." he eventually managed to get out.

"Then we'll go ahead with it." Harry said and removed Tonks wand from her unmoving hand. "Sorry about this, Tonks. But I can't risk you rushing off to tell Dumbledore about this or trying to take me away from here right now. I promise that I'll turn you loose once the wedding is over and the paperwork has been properly filed. If you promise not to hex me too badly for this when you're free, I'll even explain all of it to you." he added and then gulped, taking a few steps back as he saw the venom in her eyes directed at him. "Umm, well. ... Hehe... Perhaps we'll wait a bit for that. Hehe..." he chuckled nervously, hoping that she wouldn't hurt him too badly once she was free.

Perhaps he should see about getting a head start or something? People went on honeymoons after they got married, right? Going far abroad sounded really good to him at the moment. Giving Tonks a chance to calm down before he saw her next seemed like a better and better idea the more he thought about it.

Tonks eyes had a feral glimmer in them as she stared angrily at him, suddenly causing Harry to see the family resemblance to Bellatrix. The glare was saner, but it definitively caused him to wonder if rage was a Black family trait and if it was really such a good idea to marry into that particular family. Before the day was over, he'd have Bellatrix as a sister-in-law, Tonks as his niece-in-law and Draco as his stepson. Andromeda as a sister-in-law might not be too bad, he'd heard only good things about her and her husband. But the rest of the family...

He shuddered.

Not that his was anything to brag about either. How critters like Petunia and Dudley could be related to somebody as wonderful as people said his mother were when she was alive, boggled the mind.

Fistfang levitated Tonks into position and Harry stepped up to Father Creed with Narcissa by his side, allowing the wedding ceremony to start. He mentally shook his head. He'd never really considered getting married before. At first, because he was too young and he'd never had an opportunity to play with girls his age. Then, because he'd been too caught up in magic when he first arrived at Hogwarts. He had contemplated a life with Cho by his side as his wife a couple of times, but he'd never really thought about the actual ceremony before.

But if he had, he was sure that he never would have imagined something like this!

Being married in a small ceremony held in Fistfangs office at Gringott's, with a goblin lawyer as his witness, a body-bound and silenced Auror as witness to the bride, the ex wife of a Death Eater as his wife-to-be and a priest who had been bribed to keep everything under wraps until the ceremony was over, wasn't exactly the first thing that came to mind when thinking about a wedding.

He had gotten Fistfang to procure new dress robes for the occasion, as his had grown a little bit too small since last he wore them. The Goblin had assured him that he looked very smart and 'wizardly' in them. Harry wasn't sure if that last bit was a compliment or not, as it was hard to tell if the goblins smile when uttering those words had been sarcastic, pleased or merely his normal expression.

Narcissa had done her best to look amazing and even went as far as procure a really nice wedding gown with a lacy nearly completely transparent dress robe which allowed the gown to be seen underneath her robes. Her hair had been done and she wore some sort of head adornment that looked like a tiara broken in two pieces. A glittering silver and diamond necklace adorned her neck and Harry was moderately sure that the older woman was under the effect of either a truly amazing make-up or a couple of glamour charms. While he'd seen better looking girls, or well, at least a quarter-veela girl, he'd never seen such a beautiful woman before.

Fistfang was dressed in an impeccable pin-striped suit and walking with a beautiful carved cane, topped with a green stone of some sort Harry didn't recognize.

Tonks had obviously been told to dress conservatively and as a result, she didn't look quite as outrageous as usual, even if the pink hair looked distinctly odd with the dark blue blouse and matching skirt she wore. She looked like a Muggle yuppie after some sort of hair-dyeing mishap.

The priest wore plain brown cotton robes with a white stripe at the bottom, revealing his status as one of the few members of wizarding clergy to be found in Wizarding Britain. There weren't many wizards who believed in any sort of higher power then the wizard him or herself, but some few Squibs and Muggleborns were devout enough to become clergy in the Wizarding World. Father Creed was obviously one of those rare few.

The ceremony went okay until the priest asked if there were any objections and everyone turned to look at Tonks, who had gone purple in the face and struggled so hard against the body-bind that it looked like her skin was about to crawl off her and go on a vacation. She was shouting something, but no sounds emerged thanks to the silencing spell. For a few moments, Harry regretted only binding her from the neck and below instead of employing the full-body bind variant of the spell.

"Well... I guess we can move along then..." the priest stuttered as Harry made impatient hand-motions at him to go on, while Tonks was shouting soundlessly in the background. "You... Ah... May kiss the bride." he mumbled in acute embarrassment.

He wasn't the only one who was embarrassed. In fact, the only one who didn't seem at all affected was Fistfang, who stood silently, observing everything with absent interest.

And Tonks seemed more angry then embarrassed, to tell the truth.

Narcissa looked confused, apprehensive but obviously unable to do anything but adhere to Harry's order to marry him and be happy about it. But embarrassment was part of it too, as she still retained the memories of not liking him, even if she no longer remembered what had caused her to change her mind about him so radically.

Harry... Well, he was nervous as hell, of course. He was marrying a woman twenty-five years older then himself who only did so because he could control every single aspect of her life. But also because he knew very well that he was an awful kisser and he'd now have to do it with witnesses! Their lips met for the briefest of moments, before both Harry and Narcissa pulled away from each other, hastily turning to face the priest instead of each other.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife, Earl and Countess Potter-Black."

"Huh?!" Harry exclaimed, staring at the priest in shock, Narcissa gasping by his side.

"I will explain later." Fistfang mumbled from behind.

* * *

"Earl Potter-Black?" Harry asked once the priest had received his money, the paperwork was signed and the priest scurried out of Fistfangs office.

"Indeed." Fistfang replied as he levitated his desk and chair back to the spot where they usually stood with an absent flick of his fingers. A wave and two chairs were placed on the other side of the desk, while Tonks hovered over and was lowered to the ground standing behind the two chairs. "Please, make yourselves comfortable." he added and offered a wider then usual goblin smirk at the furious Auror, which did little to calm her down.

Harry and Narcissa seated themselves in the chairs, looking attentively at Fistfang who opened a drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper and a pair of small wire-frame glasses which he slipped on with a practised move.

"Oh, yes. Here we are. Viscount John Edward Black served King Stephen well during the war against Empress Matilda. So well in fact, that he was made an Earl by King Stephen. Earl Black was less capable a ruler then a warrior however and when Henry II started curtailing the power of the Earls, Earl Black was the first to go. All his lands were removed from his control, though the title itself remained. It was eventually passed on to Phineas Nigellus Black, after his older brother Sirius died without producing a viable heir. Phineas married Ursula Flint. Oddly enough, their eldest son, named Sirius after Phineas elder brother, did not receive the title. Nor did Phineas Jr, who was cast out of the family for supporting Muggle rights. Instead the Earldom passed on to the third son, Cygnus." Fistfang went on and cleared his throat, before continuing.

"Earl Cygnus Black married Violetta Bulstrode. You may be interested to know that their youngest daughter, Dorea Black, married a certain Charlus Potter. But the Earldom passed on their eldest son, Pollux Black." Fistfang continued.

"Granda Polly?" Narcissa suddenly exclaimed in surprise, before clearing her throat and blushing faintly. "I mean... Grandfather Pollux was an Earl?"

"Indeed." Fistfang replied with a wide grin, causing Narcissa's blush to worsen somewhat for a few moments. "Pollux married a certain Irma Crabbe. The Earldom was supposed to have been passed on to Alphard, the eldest son. But as he failed to produce an heir, the Earldom was after some debate passed on through his older sister Walburga who had produced two heirs. Regulus and Sirius Black, your godfather." Fistfang explained with a nod towards Harry. "Walburga and Alphard also had a younger brother, Cygnus Black who married a certain Druella Rosier. They had three children. Andromeda, Bellatrix and Narcissa." the goblin continued, nodding at Narcissa.

"Regulus never produced an heir before he perished. Sirius and Andromeda were cast out of the family. Bellatrix and Rudolphus have yet to produce an heir. However, Narcissa begat Draco who would have received the Earldom if not for one little thing. Sirius and Andromeda were cast out, but never formally so as the paperwork was never turned in. Walburga also failed to formally name her chosen heir before she died. I suspect that she was waiting for Bellatrix and Rudolphus to produce a male heir or for Sirius to redeem himself in her eyes. But for whatever reason, she never got around to doing it before she died and thus normal inheritance laws come into play. As such, the Earldom passed on to Sirius when Walburga died."

He rubbed his hands together and his goblin smirk widened, obviously becoming somewhat excited.

"And now we come to the best part." he announced. "Hereditary titles and the laws governing them in the Wizarding World are a murky mess ever since the Ministry of Magic started negotiating concessions and exceptions from the Muggle rules, almost directly from the founding of the Ministry. The basic result of nearly thirty feet of laws and rules governing this is that the current holder of a title can chose to turn over that title to whomever he or she damn well pleases as long as they're family. Harry was not and as such, the title would have moved on and it would be up to the Wizengamot to declare the next Earl Black. They would never hand it over to a criminal such as Bellatrix and even if Andromeda hasn't been formally removed from the family, the Wizengamot is as conservative and patriarchical as the rest of the Wizarding World, if not even more so, so she'd never get it either because she's a woman. Because her marriage was a Muggle Ceremony and not a Wizarding one, the Wizengamot wouldn't pass it on to her husband either. Nymphadora is an only child and hasn't produced any progeny as of yet, so she has no brothers nor a son to bestow the title to either. Narcissa would be next, but she's a woman. The title could have gone to Lucius if they had been married still and he got cleared of all charges, but they're now divorced so, no go. Draco would have been the logical, indeed the only, choice."

"However, now that you two are married, Harry has become a Black by marriage. Sirius left everything to Harry. Sirius was the Earl Black when he died and the will clearly specifies that everything will go to Harry. He had even left a vial of his blood to be used for the Rite of Adoption to make Harry a Black prior to the reading of the will, just so the title could have been passed on as well as his more material belongings. But that is no longer necessary as Harry already is a Black by marriage." Fistfang explained and leaned back in his chair. "So while the priest was a bit premature as the will has yet to be executed and the title passed on, he was in essence correct. This marriage will make you Earl and Countess Potter-Black after the will has been read." the goblin finished with a supremely satisfied expression.

"Cripes." Harry muttered.

"Merlin's beard..." Narcissa breathed.

"...!" Tonks shouted behind the silencing charm.

"Indeed." Fistfang grinned at the stunned wizard and witches before him.

The End! ( For now... )


	4. Chapter 4

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Chapter Three:

"Everyone ready?" Harry asked.

"Ready." the goblin captain announced as the guards under his command got into position, spreading themselves out between Harry and Tonks. Harry took a deep breath and aimed his wand at Tonks.

"Here goes..." he muttered. "Finite Incantatem!" he called out and ducked, as Tonks suddenly stumbled forward as control over her body and voice was restored to her.

"Ah!" she called out and fell face-first into a pile of pillows that had been piled up in a circle all around her. She remained still and face-down against a blue pillow for several long silent seconds, before her arms started moving. She planted her hands in height with her head and slowly pushed up, slowly raising her head and gaze until she was focused at Harry covering behind the goblin soldiers.

"Hi there..." she drawled. "Imagine seeing you here, Harry." she continued, completely ignoring the goblins between her and her target. She slowly got up onto her feet and kicked away the pillows that had broken her fall. Very calmly and deliberately, she brushed herself off and cracked her knuckles. "Mind tossing me my wand, Harry?" she asked with a friendly smile.

"Not just yet, I think." he responded and looked at Narcissa and Fistfang. "You can't cast the Unforgivables wandlessly, can you?" he asked.

"Nobody has succeeded... Yet." Fistfang responded with a grin while Narcissa just rolled her eyes at the theatrics before she got back to her musings.

"I can explain, Tonks." Harry hurriedly informed her.

"So you said earlier. So, explain..." she requested with a friendly expression. "Explain why you are here instead of at your relatives. Explain why you just married my aunt when she's already married! Explain why you *HEXED* me from behind! Explain why you *SILENCED* and *PARALYZED* me! AND EXPLAIN NOW!" she ordered, finishing in an ear-piercing yell.

"Uh... Okay..." Harry timidly responded, gulping nervously. "Well, firstly, Vernon and Petunia would never let me get married in their house and this office was convenient, secure and available at short notice, so that's why I'm here instead of at their place. Narcissa wasn't actually married until just now, as she's recently divorced." he started, then swallowed again. "The reason why I... From behind... Eh... I knew you'd have... Issues... With me being here and getting married, so..." he stuttered, gulped and wiped some sweat off his forehead. "So before you could run off to fetch Dumbledore or take me away from here, I had to do something to stop you and the Body-Bind seemed kinder then a Stunner. 'Sides, you were Narcissa's witness, so you had to be awake for the ceremony." he finished, offering a weak smile at the angry Auror.

"Divorced?" Tonks exclaimed in surprise, looking over at Narcissa who was still seated in the chair she had taken earlier, sitting with a thoughtful expression on her face, clearly distracted by something. "Blast it all, who cares?! Why did you marry her?!" Tonks demanded to know.

"Because we love each other. Right, dear?" Harry asked, looking at Narcissa.

"Hmm? Oh. Right." she mumbled in response, her mental cogwheels spinning rapidly inside her head as she pondered the unexpected news she'd just gotten.

"See?" Harry asked, returning his attention to Tonks with a strained expression on his face.

"Sure. Fine. Whatever." Tonks snapped, clearly not buying that particular explanation. "Why keep Dumbledore out of it? Why run away from your Order guards to do this?"

"Tonks. Don't you find it odd that the Headmaster, who has no authority whatsoever over me outside of school, is keeping me locked up at my relatives? I'm forced to stay in an abusive household and prevented from leaving it by someone who isn't my guardian." Harry asked.

"Well..." Tonks started, suddenly sounding unsure of herself. "He's... Dumbledore. ... He must have a reason for it." she stuttered, before swallowing nervously. "Abusive?" she inquired and Harry pulled his sleeve back on his left arm, revealing several old bruises from where he'd blocked Dudley's unfriendly 'greetings' after the scare of the Order's warning to treat him good had passed.

"Your ruddy warning to them worked. ... For almost a week!" Harry snapped. "They've been abusing me ever since I first got there as a baby, you guys thought a verbal warning and never checking up on me afterwards would actually work? Although it's not as bad this summer as it usually is. At least I'm given food and haven't been locked up in my room, but it's still no picnic. This is what Dumbledore condemns me to every fucking summer. WHICH HE HAS NO RIGHT TO DO! HE'S NOT MY BLOODY GUARDIAN!" Harry snapped and took a deep breath, before he forced himself to calm down.

"I'm sure he doesn't kn..." Tonks started.

"He knows. I've told him that I hated it there, several times. He must have known before that as well. Did you know what my first Hogwarts letter said? Harry Potter, Cupboard under the stairs. The rotten cupboard I was thrown into, locked up and spent the better part of my childhood in whenever I wasn't forced to do chores or getting either verbally or physically abused by those animals."

"There must be some mistake. Dumbledore wouldn't..." Tonks protested.

"It's not the first time he's done it either. He did the same to a kid named Tom Riddle. He grew up at an orphanage where he was abused. Dumbledore knew about it, but still sent him back there every summer. That kid is now known as Lord Voldemort." Harry continued, causing Tonks to gasp in shock, her eyes widening in fear. "That is why I haven't told Dumbledore, that is why I couldn't let anyone in the Order know. That is why I couldn't let you leave or call anyone else here until the ceremony was completed." Harry explained. "I'm legally an adult now. Dumbledore can't order me to do a damn thing anymore. I never have to put up with that crap from anyone ever again. I don't even have to go to Hogwarts any longer."

"I... I understand." Tonks responded in a subdued tone of voice. "Oh, Harry." she said sadly and slowly made her way towards him, the goblin guards hesitantly stepping aside to let her past. "I'm so sorry!" she cried out and wrapped her arms around him.

"It's okay. The past is just that, past. And now I never have to put up with the Dursley's ever again." Harry responded, wrapping his left arm around her and patting her comfortingly on her back with his right hand.

"I understand..." Tonks mumbled. "But that doesn't necessarily mean that I forgive you for HEXING ME!" she exclaimed and tore herself free from his arms, brandishing her wand which she had pilfered from his pockets during the hug.

"Aaaaaah! Sorrysorrysorry!" Harry cried out as he spun around and dove over Fistfangs desk, seeking cover.

"But that is not the worst, not by far." Tonks said, then spun around and glared at the goblin guards who were trying to sneak up on her. "Uh-uh." she cautioned them with a threatening wave of her wand, before returning her attention to Harry covering behind the desk. "Why wasn't I invited to your wedding?" she demanded to know.

"Huh?!" Harry exclaimed, his head popping up from behind the desk. "What?! You were here for it." he protested.

"But you didn't invite me, now did you? Narcissa asked me to come, without even telling me what it was all about. You apparently didn't know that she'd asked me to come, so if she hadn't, I wouldn't have been here for your wedding." she responded, causing Harry to blink.

"I didn't invite any of my friends! It had to be kept a secret!" he protested.

"Shame on you Harry, for not trusting me to keep this a secret. I'm your friend!" she admonished him.

"If I hadn't hexed you, you would have run off to fetch Dumbledore or tried to take me back to the Dursley's in the wink of an eye! You wouldn't even have given me a chance to explain myself. Heck, you wouldn't even speak to me when I was back at the Dursley's! When I wanted to go for a walk, you just popped up to tell me to go back and then you sodded off again, hiding underneath your invisibility cloak! Some friend!" he protested, causing her to avert her gaze and fall silent for nearly half a minute, before she let out a tired sigh.

"Perhaps you're right." she admitted and walked over to the empty chair beside Narcissa, slumping down into it and putting her wand away. "Oh, sod off. I'm not going to hurt him." she snapped at the goblins that had surrounded her.

"I believe the situation has been resolved, thank you for your services, Captain Longtalon." Fistfang informed the captain of the guards, who nodded and ordered his men out of the room. Harry slowly stood up and moved around the desk, putting his right hand on Tonk's left shoulder. She looked up at him and offered a weak grin, before moving her right hand up, putting it over his.

"Can you ever forgive me for what I did, Tonks?" Harry asked her.

"Oh, Harry. There's nothing to forgive." she said and chuckled. "I'm still a little angry at you, but I'll get over it. After I've had a couple of drinks tonight, I'll probably find it funny." she admitted and dropped her hand back to her lap. "But the next time you feel an urgent need to hex me, I might not be so forgiving, y'hear? At least try to explain the situation to me next time, giving me a chance to prove to you that I can be your friend."

The corners of Harry's lips quirked upwards for a few moments.

"Next time? Somehow I doubt that you'll ever unexpectedly burst in on me getting married to one of your aunts ever again, so I don't think there will be a next time." Harry commented.

"Why did you get married to Narcissa, Harry?" Tonks asked again, looking over at her still distracted aunt, who seemed fully engrossed in whatever it was she was thinking about.

"Marriage was the only way to get emancipated and that was the only way to get Dumbledore off my back." Harry replied.

"Okay, I can get that. But why her? Why not somebody your own age or at least closer to your own age. She's... What? Twenty-four? Twenty-five years older then you are?" she asked.

"Twenty-five." Harry replied and looked over at Narcissa. "I asked, she agreed."

"But why did she agree to marry you?" Tonks insisted.

"I'm just lucky that way, I suppose. You'll have to ask her." he responded evasively.

"But perhaps that discussion can wait for a while or be conducted elsewhere?" Fistfang responded. "It has been delightfully amusing to observe you wand-wavers making fools out of yourselves, but I have another meeting in ten minutes."

"Oh, sure." Harry responded and walked over to the goblin, offering his hand to it. "Thanks for all your help today, Fistfang."

"No problem, Lord Potter-Black." Fistfang responded. "You have everything?" he asked.

"Yes." Harry replied, patting himself down and confirming that the pockets of his dress robe still held everything he would need.

"Then I wish you all a continued good day. Lord and Lady Potter-Black. Auror Tonks." Fistfang responded and inclined his head to all of them in turn.

"Good day, Fistfang." Harry said and noticed that Narcissa hadn't moved an inch. "Narcissa, come along." he requested and nudged her shoulder with his hand.

"Hm? Oh?! Right!" she exclaimed as she was pulled out of her contemplation, gracefully sliding out of her seat and absently attaching herself to his right arm, already distracted by her thoughts again as Harry led the procession out of Fistfangs office and into the main area of Gringott's Legal Division.

"He means well, Harry." Tonks insisted. "Dumbledore, I mean."

"I don't doubt that for a second. But there is a Muggle saying that comes to mind, perhaps you've heard of it? 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.', I believe it was. It's a good saying, Tonks. Good intentions don't excuse awful results. Especially not when he should know better after Tom Riddle just how bad the results of his 'good intentions' can get."

"We'll have this discussion again, Harry. Just because I can't come up with any good arguments for my case now, doesn't mean that I'm giving up." Tonks huffed and shook her head. "Well, whatever. Come along, you're going back to Privet Drive and I'll have to report this to Dumbledore." she said and reached for Harry's hand.

"Emancipated, remember?" Harry reminded her as he backed out of reach. "I'll tell you this right now, Tonks. I'm never ever going back to Privet Drive of my own free will. If I'm there, something illegal is going on and I expect you to start up an investigation into what's going on." he informed her and she bristled somewhat at that. "I'm going home."

"*We're* going home." Narcissa added and Tonks started, nearly having forgotten that Narcissa was there as well.

"Why are you doing this, Aunt?" Tonks asked, gesturing at Harry. "You're old enough to be his mother!"

"Marriages in the Wizarding World are matters of business and convenience, Nymphadora. Your mother's marriage is an aberration." Narcissa responded regally. "Doing this holds significant advantages for me. That is all you need to know." she finished.

"You've done something, haven't you?" Tonks suddenly exclaimed and whipped out her wand. "You've done something to him!" she accused her aunt. "Give me your wand, now!" she ordered.

"If you wish." Narcissa agreed and carefully pulled out her wand and handed it to Tonks, who quickly went through all the recent spells Narcissa had cast with her wand without finding anything suspicious.

"A potion, then." Tonks suddenly growled and turned towards Harry, who slapped her wand out of the way and pulled his own as she advanced upon him. "Harry, I promise that I'm only going to check if you're being controlled. On my magic, so do I swear. Nothing else, just checking to see if you're all right. ... Unless I find something wrong, of course."

"All right." Harry reluctantly agreed and put his wand away, allowing Tonks to cast a large number of spells on him, checking for nefarious spells, potions or other forms of magical means that could explain what she'd just been a witness too.

"Nothing... Well, nothing except some really odd readings from your scar that I can't make any sense out of." Tonks finally sighed, after she'd tried anything she could think of to discover any foul play. She looked between the two of them for a long time, before she let out another sigh and gave Narcissa her wand back.

"I told you, Tonks. I asked and she agreed." Harry told her. "We're both getting what we want out of this." he lied, feeling a hint of guilt over magically forcing Narcissa into this marriage. He was greatly relieved that Tonks had only checked him for magical influences, as he wasn't sure if the changes he'd made to Narcissa would show up or not if Tonks had subjected her to the same tests.

Or at least he thought it was a lie anyway, as he wasn't aware that Narcissa had reached certain conclusions during her earlier ponderings.

"Well... I guess I can't force you to go back." Tonks admitted in defeat. "I'll just go report this to Dumbledore then. Please do be cautious. By leaving Privet Drive, you're leaving your Blood Protection behind as well." she hinted anxiously. "Where are you going by the way?" she asked and got a horrified look on her face. "C-certainly not Malfoy manor, are you?!" she exclaimed.

"No. I've arranged for another home and asked Gringotts to handle security." Harry responded.

"Where?" Tonks asked.

"I'm... We're keeping that to ourselves for now. Sorry, Tonks." Harry apologised.

"Run along now, Nymphadora." Narcissa dismissed the younger woman with an arrogant wave of her hand. "You have your report to hand in and the two of us have matters to discuss."

"Harry... Gringotts can only protect you against outside threats. Not threats from within." Tonks said with a worried look at Narcissa.

"Neither could Dumbledore, apparently. Something he should have thought about before forcing me to go back to the Dursley's abuse every summer since I first came to Hogwarts." Harry said with a final note in his voice and Tonks surrendered, though she looked worried as hell. "Bye, Tonks."

"Farewell, niece." Narcissa added.

"Do take care, all right?" Nymphadora pleaded and Harry nodded.

"I've arranged for a Portkey back home. Hold on." Narcissa said and offered a velvet sash to Harry, who cautiously took hold of it and took a deep breath as Narcissa tapped it with her wand, whisking the two of them away and leaving Tonks standing by herself with a worried look on her face, before she Apparated away.

* * *

"Wow." Harry exclaimed after he'd gotten back onto his feet and got his first real-life look at the place.

"I'm assuming from your uncouth exclamation that you approve?" Narcissa commented, then closed her mouth before she could make another acidic comment, cursing herself for letting such an utterance slip from between her lips.

She privately had to admit that it had been interesting, almost fun in a way, to turn the place from an empty apartment to a real home. Harry hadn't really given her any instructions, so she'd been entirely on her own and been given complete freedom to arrange matters to her satisfaction.

That had not been the case at Malfoy Manor. That had been in the Malfoys possession for two centuries before she moved in and her influence on it over the years had been minimal at best. Some paintings, curtains and drapes had been added on her initiative, but the rest was already there when she moved in. With Lucius in Ministry Custody and Draco flooing all over the place to enjoy his summer to the fullest, her days were nearly completely empty and it hadn't been much of a bother sneaking off to arrange matters here.

"Yeah... This is great." Harry said as he looked around the living room, tastefully decorated in warm earthy colours. He reverently moved over to a bookshelf and ran his hand across the dark brown, revelling in the smooth surface before he headed for a table standing in front of a comfortable-looking three-seated couch. A vase filled with beautifully arranged fresh flowers was standing on a frilly little tablecloth, flanked by two silver candleholders.

He slowly turned around and took it all in. The small decorative figurines in the bookshelf, the rows of books, the carpet on the floor, the paintings on the walls, the extremely comfortable looking chair over in a corner with a foot-stool and an adjactant table on its right. He marvelled at the craftsmanship of everything he laid his eyes on.

The lack of modern appliances felt somewhat odd. Instead of a TV, there was a dark brown polished Wizarding Wireless. Light was provided by gas lamps or candles, though there was an ever glowing globe on a pedestal at the back of the comfy looking chair. Apparently, it was a designated reading corner or some such. A small fire was burning in the open fireplace, giving the entire room a warm and welcoming air.

He turned in Narcissa's direction and smiled happily at her.

"You did *really* well, Miss Black. Thank you." he said and she inclined her head faintly in acknowledgement, an odd expression on her face.

"Mrs Potter-Black." she said.

"Hm?" Harry asked absently, his attention having been caught by the books, which he was now looking over. It appeared to be a blend of Wizarding fictional and factional works. Nothing really out of the ordinary which made him a bit disappointed, as he had hoped for a selection of useful books. Granted, the standard book of spells for year six and seven might be interesting to give a read before school started up again, but most of the other fact books he'd already read or at least skimmed through at one point or other during his time in Hogwarts.

"Mrs Potter-Black. I am no longer a 'Miss' and I'm not only 'Black' either." she corrected him.

"Oh. Yeah. That." Harry said, shaken out of his happy stupor at having a gorgeous home by this reminder of his recent marriage.

At least he assumed that he had a gorgeous home, as he'd only seen the living room so far.

"Perhaps we might have a talk of such matters after I've shown you around?" Narcissa carefully hinted, not really sure what sort of behaviour Harry expected from a wife and what the consequences of her actions not matching up to his expectations would be. She'd certainly learned quickly to always act according to what Lucius expected and even if it seemed unlikely that Harry was quite as domineering, she wasn't about to take any chances now when the marriage had actually gone through.

"All right." Harry agreed and followed Narcissa's lead through the apartment.

The kitchen was made up in much the same style as the living room and the adjactant dining room, dark earthy colours and all natural materials, not a hint of plastic or aluminium that he was used too from the nearly hospital-like clinic atmosphere of the Dursley kitchen. He found that he greatly enjoyed the contrast from what he was used too and whole-heartedly approved.

The entry hall was modest and Spartan, containing nothing other then a carpet in the middle of it, a welcoming mat in front of the door, a rack to hang clothes on, a nice umbrella stand and a shoe-rack to place shoes in to the right of the door. Two closets were also present, offering a place to get clothes, shoes and whatnot out of the way and out of view.

The bathroom was rather simple, only a toilet seat, a sink and a wooden cabinet.

Upstairs, there was a second bathroom with another toilet, a sink, a larger wooden cabinet and a bathtub even larger then the one the Dursley's had which was large enough to comfortably fit either Vernon or Dudley on their own or three Petunia-sized women at the same time. This one could probably fit both Vernon and Petunia at the same time with a little bit of space to spare. The Dursley tub didn't have feet modelled after what appeared to be dragon's feet, however. The faucets at Privet Drive certainly weren't shaped like regal looking gold-plated falcons either.

A room Narcissa hadn't known quite what to do with, had been turned into what she called 'the servant room', but which Harry intended to be used as a guest room. Unlike the other regular rooms, this one didn't have any paintings or curtains, but it was otherwise fully furnished. Narcissa explaining that decoration was up to the servant who would be using it. Upon being informed that there would be no servant, her expression turned disproving for a few moments, before she sighed and nodded her agreement.

The Master Bedroom was the largest room on the upper floor and was dominated by a huge four-poster bed. It also contained a small couch, two fully stocked bookshelves, a desk with a high-backed chair and a huge mirror flanked by a walk-in closet and a wet bar.

Next to the master bedroom, was Narcissa's bedroom. He smiled at the Slytherin green drapes and pillows for her own four-poster bed, quite nearly as large as the bed in the master bedroom. Here too was a mirror and a walk-in closet, a desk, the same model of chair that stood in the 'reading corner' downstairs and no less then four fully stocked bookshelves. It appeared that Narcissa was quite the reader.

The two of them headed back downstairs and Harry seated himself on the living room couch as Narcissa prepared a pot of tea for the two of them, soon entering the living room with tea, cups and a plate of biscuits on a silver platter.

Narcissa sedately seated herself at the other end of the couch and calmly sipped from her tea as Harry dug in on the biscuits, feeling rather hungry as he hadn't been able to eat much before the wedding.

"Do I have my husband's permission to speak freely?" Narcissa inquired after Harry had practically inhaled more then half of the biscuits and washed it down with two cups of tea which Narcissa had thoughtfully refilled for him when he emptied his cup.

"Of course." Harry agreed after a few moments of utter surprise at the question, his face twitching as she referred to him as 'husband'. It would take quite a while getting used to this whole marriage-deal. Assuming he got used to it at all before it would be time to divorce her. "Baring a few subjects that will have to remain private, you're always free to speak your mind." he added, wanting to avoid being asked such a silly question in the future.

"I would ask what you expect of me as your wife, husband?" Narcissa asked in a highly respectful tone of voice and Harry blinked in yet another bout of surprise. This was quite the change from how she had acted previously and he couldn't quite recall anything that may have caused it.

"Well... Nothing much, to be honest." Harry replied after a few moments. "That my secrets are kept secrets is just about it." he said and hesitated for a moment, before he asked a question of his own. "What did you expect of me as your husband?"

"Not this." Narcissa replied after a few moments, an expression on her face that was very nearly as confused as Harry's had been.

"What did you expect then?" Harry asked curiously.

"I expected a somewhat gentler version of Lucius, perhaps with some odd Muggle additions as you were raised by Muggles." she replied after a moment of silence. "I expected to be told how to act, how to speak, how to dress. I expected restrictions and guidelines. Not merely to be told to keep your secrets." she admitted.

"Whyever would you expect things like that? You're your own person, aren't you?" Harry asked with a completely bewildered expression.

"Because that is how it has always been." she replied. "I'm... My own person? Truly?" she asked with a faintly wistful expression.

"Like I said. Don't betray my secrets and I'll be satisfied." Harry replied and blinked. "Oh, don't become a Death Eater or be an ally of theirs either." he added.

"That's it?" Narcissa asked with her eyes opened wide.

"That is it." Harry firmly agreed.

He already felt bad enough about having forced her into this, he certainly wasn't about to add to that guilt by placing additional restrictions upon her.

"How did you do this?" she asked. "I don't quite understand it. I barely know you, I don't remember anything of the proposal or the reasons why I accepted it. But in spite of those facts, I can't help but feel... Pleased about this marriage. I found a receipt for the engagement rings, I bought and paid for them with my own money. With everything my son and... And former husband has said and told me about you, I should detest and hate you. Yet, I'm still undecided what to think about you. But still happy about being married to you. I just don't understand how you did this. It's not the Imperious, nor any other curse I'm familiar with. I know that you've done something, but I'd very much like to know exactly what."

"This is one of those things that will have to remain a secret." Harry informed her and Narcissa slowly nodded. "Do you remember signing an Oath of Loyalty as a child?" he asked and Narcissa's eyes widened as realization struck. "I see that you do. That is how." he revealed.

"I don't actually remember it, but I suspected that I had signed one at some point in my life. All right. In that case, I can understand the how. But why?" she asked with a completely bewildered expression.

"I wanted, no, needed, freedom and independence. It seemed like the only way to get that was to get married to an adult witch." Harry explained. "When Sirius left me your Oath of Loyalty, you became a prime candidate for marriage."

"He had it? And never used it?" Narcissa asked with a stunned expression, then shuddered. "Oh. Thank Merlin and Morgana that he never used it!" she breathed with a grateful tone of voice. "I wouldn't have put it past him to turn my hair blue and my skin green or something along those lines."

The corners of Harry's lips twitched at that particular piece of mental imagery.

"So, you got me out of one marriage and forced me into another one?" Narcissa commented and Harry nodded. "But you're allowing me freedom, other then not assisting the Dark Lord or betraying your secrets?" she asked for clarification and Harry nodded yet again. "Well... Thanks, I guess."

"Thanks?!" Harry exclaimed, nearly getting his lap full of tea as he'd just grabbed his cup and was bringing it up towards his lip for a sip from it.

"My marriage to Lucius wasn't quite what I had expected it to be." she replied.

"Bad?" Harry asked and took a quick sip from his tea, then put the cup down again.

"Boring." Narcissa clarified. "The whole thing was more along the lines of a business arrangement then anything else, a way to bring the Blacks and Malfoys closer to each other in those troubled times. As such, I didn't expect a loving marriage and didn't get one either. But I was prepared to accept that, as I hadn't ever believed that love would be part of my future marriage. He gave me a son, for which I will be forever grateful. He also took my son from me, for which I'll be forever resentful." she explained and then sighed. "But the worst thing of it all, was that it was all so dreadfully boring. You spoke of wanting freedom and independence. Well, you were not alone with such desires." she revealed and took a sip from her own tea and a small nibble from a biscuit washed down with another sip of tea. "One of the expectations Lucius had on me, was to be the picture-perfect housewife. So, I wasn't allowed to work and my acquaintances were pretty much limited to allies of the Malfoy family. Not the most stimulating of conversationalists. So, I was pretty much confined to the manor and my books." Narcissa said with a loving glance towards the bookshelf.

"That's horrible!" Harry exclaimed and shook his head in revulsion. She had apparently been just as much as prisoner as he had been.

"I know those that have it worse." Narcissa said with a shrug. "He never hit me and I haven't had the Imperious used on me. I was allowed somewhat free rein with the Malfoy accounts, so I never wanted for new reading material, clothes or other trinkets. After I learned how he wanted me to behave, he never laid his hand on me in anger. Indeed, he was even somewhat affectionate. In many ways, it was a good arrangement."

"But... Didn't you love him? Didn't he love you?" Harry asked with a horrified expression.

"I was passingly fond of him until a couple of years after Draco were born. It certainly wasn't a great storybook romance, but I regarded him with fondness." Narcissa admitted with a faintly wistful expression that quickly turned into an annoyed one. "That was when Lucius declared that Draco was no longer my responsibility and instead got him a nanny and a tutor to raise him." she snorted and shook her head. "Those two did an awful job with him. He could have been great, the greatest Malfoy for several generations. Instead, he became just as mediocre as Lucius himself. Spoiled, arrogant and short-sighted. After that, my feelings changed to mere tolerance of his presence although I never let him know." she sighed with a disappointed expression, then blinked. "I don't even know why I'm telling you all this." she muttered with a faintly suspicious glance at Harry.

"Because I used your Oath to ensure that you'd always answer my questions truthfully." Harry honestly replied and she nodded, one of her suspicious confirmed from his own mouth.

"Honesty in exchange for freedom..." Narcissa mumbled. "I'm truly free to do whatever I please?" she asked again.

"Within what few limits I've given you, yes. Get a job, travel the world, get a facial tattoo, whatever." Harry agreed with a determined nod.

"And... About tonight?" she asked. "Our... Wedding night?" she added for clarification.

"I have my room, you have yours." Harry replied and looked seriously at her. "I may be many things, but I would *never* force you do something like that." he assured her, silently pleased that Narcissa had arranged for separate bedrooms. He hadn't given things much thought and if she hadn't done so, he'd probably have slept on the couch tonight.

Not that he wasn't used to worse. The couch certainly looked more comfortable then his bed back at the Dursley's and it was certainly a *huge* improvement over his cot in the cupboard. But he could hardly wait to sleep in *his* bed, in *his* room, in *his* apartment. He smiled as he looked around the room, once again marvelling over the fact that it was all his.

Well, his and Narcissa's he supposed.

But still.

He'd only been here for under an hour, before this he'd only seen pictures of the empty apartment, but it still felt like more of a home then Privet Drive ever had.

The End! ( For now... )


	5. Chapter 5

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Chapter Four:

"Come on in, Nymphadora." the old familiar voice rumbled from behind the door to the headmaster's office and Tonks sighed, shaking her head before she pushed it open and walked inside. She wasn't at all looking forward to the meeting ahead of her. "Please, take a seat. To what do I owe the honour of this unexpected visit?" Dumbledore inquired with a smile and a friendly twinkle.

"Harry Potter." Tonks replied and seated herself in one of the chairs on the other side of Dumbledore's desk.

"Oh? Didn't you ask to be excused from guard duty today for a family reunion of sorts?" Dumbledore asked with a faintly surprised expression.

"It's related to that." Tonks replied with a sigh, rubbing her left temple, wondering how to start.

"Lemon drop?" Dumbledore offered and held out a small ornate bowl filled with the treats in question towards Tonks, who declined with a shake of her head. He shrugged and took one himself, plopping it into his mouth with obvious relish as he placed the bowl back into its place. "So, how come young Mr Potter is related to your reunion?" Dumbledore inquired after a few moments of consideration.

"Two days ago, I was asked to accompany my aunt Narcissa Malfoy for 'a personal matter' today. I wasn't about to do it, but she swore an oath on her magic that I wouldn't be in any danger and that I would return safe and sound from it. She couldn't or at least wouldn't tell me what this matter was and my curiosity finally got the best of me, so I decided to go along with it." Tonks replied. "She picked me up outside the Ministry of Magic and I was quite surprised as she took me to Gringotts. Though that was nothing compared to my surprise as I was hexed from behind with a near-full-body-bind as we entered the office of a goblin barrister. Imagine my even greater surprise as the one who hexed me was Harry Potter."

"Harry was at Gringotts?" Dumbledore exclaimed with a surprised expression. "And he used magic?" he added.

"Yes on both accounts." Tonks replied.

"Why?" the old headmaster asked while fervently wondering how Harry had succeeded with that. He shouldn't have been able to get by his watchers and he certainly shouldn't have been able to use magic. Dumbledore absently poked a silver gadget on his desk shaped like a little chimney with his wand and it obediently shimmered a little brighter for a second.

"Aunt Narcissa had apparently asked me to come so that I could be a witness at her wedding." Tonks started to explain and Dumbledore quickly looked up from the little device with a surprised expression.

"She's taken on a second husband?" he asked, wondering whatever could have brought that about. He certainly hadn't thought that Lucius Malfoy would stand for something like that and he couldn't imagine what reason she had for doing something like that on her own.

"Not exactly. She had apparently been divorced from Lucius Malfoy recently and now decided to get married again. To Harry." she explained and Dumbledore suddenly found himself with a half-melted lemon drop lodged in his throat. He choked on it and thumped himself in the chest a couple of times, finally managing to dislodge the lemony treat, expelling it with a cough and launching the semi-melted sweet and sour treat across the room.

"What?!" he asked in a strained voice, wheezing as he struggled to get a deep breath of air into his lungs.

"Harry and Narcissa married each other, right before my very eyes." Tonks said and shook her head. "I dunno what either of them were thinking, if at all. I mean, sure, Harry is cute'n all that, but not *that* cute. And sure, I suppose Aunt Narcissa is quite the looker in spite of her age, but still... She's twenty-five years older then he is, has a son that is Harry's age and the two of them are *nothing* alike. Other then magic and both of them going to or having went to Hogwarts, I don't think they have anything at all in common. I didn't even know that the two of them had met, to say nothing of knowing each other well enough to marry each other!" she groused.

"Harry? Narcissa?" Dumbledore mumbled in utter astonishment.

"I checked Harry for external influence, but found nothing amiss. No potions, no magic, no nothing. As far as I can tell, he did it of his own free will." Tonks continued.

"But... Why?" Dumbledore asked. "Why would Harry do something like that?"

"I'm not sure and didn't get a real answer from either of them when I asked." Tonks replied, wondering if Dumbledore had really heard anything she said after she announced that Harry was now married. "I mean, sure, it's conceivable that my aunt has some sort of little-boy complex and it's not entirely out of the question that Harry gets a kick out of older women. But for both of those very odd scenarios to be true at the same time? Unlikely, very unlikely." Tonks mused out loud, then frowned. "Harry also said quite a few things which I found really disturbing. Extremely disturbing."

"What did he say?" Dumbledore asked, hanging onto her every word like a man starved for them and not intending to miss a single morsel.

"Did you know that he is abused by the Dursley's?" Tonks asked and Dumbledore sucked in a surprised breath of air.

"What?" Dumbledore asked.

"He's abused by them. They're hitting him, locking him up and starving him." Tonks said with a morose expression. "Did you know?" she demanded to know.

"No. ... No, I did not." Dumbledore breathed in a faint tone of voice.

"He said that he told you about how bad it was." Tonks said.

"Well... I thought he was exaggerating. I certainly didn't expect anything of the sort to have occured." Dumbledore shamefully admitted.

"He actually did tell you? And you never bothered to verify his claims?" Tonks gasped. "I hardly know him and even I know that he's not prone to exaggerations. Quite the opposite, in fact!"

"I just couldn't believe that anyone would..." Dumbledore mumbled. "Oh dear..." he sighed and his complexion paled as he started to realize just what he was responsible for.

Again.

"So, by your inactions, you've made yourself and all of us accomplishes to verbal and physical abuse of a minor." Tonks mumbled with a shell-shocked expression, her words causing Dumbledore to flinch and shy away from her. "I could loose my job over this. Heck. You could loose yours!" she sighed and rubbed both her temples this time.

"But... Why marriage? And how? He's still a minor." Dumbledore asked. "I'm afraid I'll have to cut this meeting short, Nymphadora. I must go see Harry at once."

"Good luck. Apparently he's not a minor anymore and I don't know where he lives now. Harry said that he was emancipated and that he's moved from Privet Drive." Tonks revealed and this appeared to be an even greater shock then any of the previous ones Dumbledore had been through so far.

"WHAT?!" he yelled and practically flew up onto his feet, staring down at Tonks with a surprised and almost fearful expression on his face.

* * *

"Huh. I could get used to this." Harry said as he walked into the kitchen and saw the kitchen table filled with food. He piled a generous helping of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and smoked ham onto a plate, poured himself a large glass of orange juice and seated himself with a huge smile on his lips.

He slowly consumed breakfast while reading a fresh copy of the Daily Prophet that was lying on the table. As he put the paper down and prepared to go up and prepare some tea, he blinked as he found a smoking cup of tea and a smoking cup of coffee on the table that hadn't been there before.

"What the..." he muttered to himself, but shrugged and grabbed the tea, added two lumps of sugar and sipped gratefully from it as he raised the paper again.

All in all, it was the most peaceful breakfast he could recollect ever having. Breakfast at the Dursley's had been hell, there was always something going on at Hogwarts even during the more calm winter holidays, the Burrow had been a mess of activity, Grimmauld equally noisy due to the presence of the Weasley's and breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron had been much the same what with the amounts of people passing through.

/This is heaven!/ he decided as he finished his tea and put the cup down. When he'd finished his paper and put that down, he blinked at the sight of his cup of tea, once again filled with tea.

"Narcissa?" he called tentatively, looking around the room. He hadn't seen her since last night when he retired to the master bedroom and he'd heard nothing from her this morning either. From the look of things, she hadn't eaten breakfast or cleaned up pretty darn well after herself as there wasn't a hint of anyone but him having eaten something today. "Narcissa?" he called again after failing to get a response.

Then he recalled the room she'd set up for a servant and narrowed his eyes.

"Anybody here that isn't me?" he called, but once again failed to get a response. "Household magic, perhaps..." he muttered and shook his head as he stared suspiciously at the table and the contents of it. He grabbed his refilled cup of tea, took a sip from it and then poured the rest of it into the sink, then put it back onto the table, staring intently at it.

There was movement in the corner of his eyes and he stared in surprise at an unfamiliar house elf with a dirty towel wrapped around its body who'd just appeared bearing a pot of what he assumed to be tea.

"Huh? Who are you?" he asked with a confused expression.

"Me is being Diddy, Lord Potters-Blackie." the elf replied with a little curtsy and a high-pitched female:ish sounding voice. "More tea, Lord Potters-Blackie?" she inquired.

"Narcissa got a house elf for this place?" Harry asked with a surprised expression.

"No, Diddy is Malfoy elf. Mistress ask me to pop here and serve Lord Potters-Blackies breakfast." the elf replied and offered the pot of tea again. "More tea, Lord Potters-Blackie?" she asked again.

"No. No thank you, Diddy." he replied after a moment. "Where's Narcissa?" he asked.

"Mistress is being at Malfoy Manor eating breakfast with her Dracky, Lord Potters-Blackie." Diddy replied.

"Oh shit... She told him?!" Harry exclaimed and the elf jumped nervously.

"Diddy is not knowing, Lord Potters. Diddy is being bad elf! Bad elf!" Diddy replied and headed towards the table with an expression that Harry was familiar with after being around Dobby.

"Diddy will not punish herself." he stated firmly and the elf halted mid-stride, looking uncertainly up at him. "Diddy wasn't a bad elf." he assured the little creature. "Thank you for breakfast, Diddy."

"Lord Potters-Blackie is kind saying so, Lord Potters-Blackie." Diddy said and curtsied again. "Lord Potters-Blackie has finished breakfast? Lord Potters-Blackie is wanting anything else?" she asked hopefully.

"No, I'm full. Thank you." he said. "Do you know when Narcissa will be back?" he asked. "And you're not a bad elf if you don't know." he hastily added.

"Diddy is not knowing, Lord Potters-Blackie." the elf responded with a contrite expression.

"All right." Harry said and shrugged.

"If Lord Potters-Blackie is not wanting anything else?" Diddy asked and Harry nodded. The elf curtsied again and with a snap of her fingers, everything on the table vanished and so did Diddy, leaving Harry alone in the kitchen. He looked around the clean kitchen once more and scratched the back of his head. He supposed that it wasn't all that bad an idea to have a house elf around the place, but he wasn't at all comfortable with a Malfoy elf being around.

He headed to the living room and after some fiddling with the Wizarding Wireless, succeeded in getting some sort of political talk show to come on. While he supposed that it might be interesting to hear about the reaction of the rest of Europe to Voldemorts return, it wasn't something he wanted to listen to at the moment. After some more fiddling, he managed to turn it off and instead headed for the books. After browsing through the covers, he selected the standard book of spells for year six and seated himself in the reading chair. He let out a pleased sigh as he put his feet up and started reading.

"Good morning." Narcissa announced as she walked into the room later on. Harry started and looked up from his book, then looked down at it again. Judging by the progress, he must have been reading for about an hour or so.

"Morning." he greeted his new spouse. "Did you have a pleasant breakfast?" he inquired.

"Not so much, no. It is nice seeing Draco without Lucius presence, but Nanny Crabbe and Mister Wordsmith are nearly as bad." Narcissa said with a tired sigh, before she seated herself in the couch.

"Why did you send over a house elf?" Harry inquired.

"Don't worry, I Obliviated it once it returned." Narcissa dismissed his question.

"I'm pretty sure I said not to tell anyone where this place was." Harry stated.

"Did you?" Narcissa asked and closed her eyes, thinking back. "Ah, yes. 'Tell nobody of where it is.'. I remember." she said and opened her eyes.

"So, why did you?" he asked.

"Because you shouldn't have to make your own breakfast. You're an Earl." she said and Harry rubbed his temples.

"I'm pretty sure I used to Oath to ensure that you'd do as I say, so how come you were able to tell Diddy where this place is?" Harry muttered, mostly to himself, but Narcissa heard it.

"Ah, so that's why! I had a deucedly hard time understanding just why I always insisted on not accepting deliveries here and did all the remodelling myself." Narcissa said and nodded to herself.

"So, how come you were able to tell Diddy?" Harry asked.

"It's just a house elf." Narcissa said and Harry closed his eyes, shaking his head as he understood the situation. Narcissa obviously didn't think much of the house elves, so telling one of them wasn't something she saw as going against his order not to tell anyone. They were probably seen as tools or something according to her. Considering that, he was somewhat surprised that she'd even bothered to Obliviate the poor thing afterwards.

"Don't send over any more house elves, Narcissa. It's too much of a security risk." Harry said, meaning it as a request, but after he'd said it, he realized that Narcissa would probably take it as a command.

"No servant. No elves." Narcissa sighed and shook her head. "Well, if you're expecting me to cook, I'm afraid you'll be pretty disappointed. I haven't cooked since Hogwarts and that was my worst elective. What I conjure isn't all that good either. Making tea and toast are about the limits of my abilities in the kitchen."

"I'm a decent cook." Harry revealed and pondered matters for a moment. "But perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea to have a house elf or two around the place. I think I know of at least one who might be willing to come. In fact, you probably know him. It's Dobby."

"That little wretch? It hasn't killed itself yet?" Narcissa asked with a disgusted expression.

"No. Dobby is at Hogwarts now. I'll send him a letter and ask if he'd be willing to work for me instead." Harry replied.

"Well... As long as you're not expecting me to cook anything." Narcissa responded and took a deep breath. "When do you think I can start telling people of us?" she asked. "I can only use the excuse of 'going shopping' for so long before people start to ask questions."

"I was actually surprised that it wasn't in today's Daily Prophet." Harry said and shook his head as he considered her question. "Well, it's a done deal now, so I guess there's no need for secrecy."

"Excellent. Then I can start moving my things out of Malfoy Manor." Narcissa said and looked around the place. "I must say, that I'm looking forward to staying the night here. It's small and cramped, but it's a much more pleasant atmosphere then at the manor."

"You didn't sleep here?" Harry asked.

"No, I had to go back to the manor if I didn't want to be discovered as missing. So once you retired, I went back." Narcissa said. "Did you wish otherwise?" she asked apologetically.

"No. Good thinking, I guess. I was just surprised." Harry stated with an approving expression. "I hadn't even considered that." he admitted and then smiled as he considered something. "Would you mind letting me see a Pensieve memory of when you tell Draco?" he asked with a bemused smile as he considered how the self-proclaimed prince of Slytherin house would react to the marriage.

"What choice do I have?" Narcissa said with a sigh. "All you have to do is apparently order me and I'll do it."

"I'm going amend that command a little bit, so you won't just mindlessly obey anything I tell you." Harry informed her, which was something he'd decided before going to sleep last night.

Narcissa blinked and looked at Harry with utter astonishment and a flabbergasted expression.

"What?" she asked.

"It was important for you to obey my orders before we were married, but there's little need for that now." he explained and leaned back in the chair. "We can't divorce until I've come of age and you still won't be able to tell any secrets, but I think that will be enough." he revealed.

"You're going to divorce me?" Narcissa asked with a faintly upset expression.

"Yes. This is only until I've come of age and can't be placed back under guardianship again." Harry answered, then tilted his head as he considered his upset wife. "You're... Upset about that?" he hesitantly asked with a bewildered tone of voice.

"You give me freedom, a noble title and from association with you, a great deal of political clout and influence." Narcissa replied and fiddled with her fingers for a few moments. "I knew that I was somehow influenced to approve of this marriage, but the moment your outlandish lawyer explained matters after the marriage, I might have started to approve of things anyway even without outside influence. With you being Earl Potter-Black, I become Countess Potter-Black and that is something I could use." she admitted and considered Harry for a few moments. "What sort of Muggles were you raised with? Aristocrats of some sort, I'm assuming?"

"Middle class. I was treated as lowest of the low, however. They didn't exactly approve of magic, so I was probably treated about the same as the Malfoy house elves." Harry replied and Narcissa blanched.

"What?!" she exclaimed.

"You heard me talking to Tonks and you even went to see me at my muggle relatives. You should already know this." he responded.

"I was somewhat distracted during your talk with Nymphadora and as far as I know, I've only seen you once before the marriage and that was at the Quidditch World Cup." she replied.

"Oh. Right." Harry replied, recalling how he'd ordered Narcissa to forget all about the trip to the Dursley's. "Well, it wasn't a pleasant upbringing and while the Dursley's would probably like to be aristocrats of some sort, they're not. Why do you ask?"

"That explains a few things." Narcissa mused and looked distracted for a few moments. "Well, the short of it is this. In high society, a title like this would open many doors for me that would otherwise be closed. Lucius has always prided himself on the circles he moves in and the amount of clout he has through his connections, but that's nothing compared to what I could accomplish as a Countess married to a Wizengamot-seated Earl who also happens to be the-boy-who-lived."

"And what would you do when you got all that clout and wide-open doors?" Harry asked with a curious expression.

"Make policy." Narcissa responded after a few moments. "I could become the hand that guides the Wizarding World. Or at least the British part of it." she said with a somewhat dreamy note in her voice. There had been so few things in her life that she'd been truly able to control, so the notion of becoming the power behind the scene for an entire country was a highly attractive one.

Harry let out a quiet sigh and rolled his eyes. He was used to being treated as a tool, but he'd never really though that such would be the case with his wife.

Of course, he'd never really though that he'd marry somebody like Narcissa either.

"I don't think you really understand the importance for a woman to be married. As a wife, I'll be taken seriously. Very few women manage to rise to power or maintain power they already have without a husband by their side." she mused. "Amelia Bones is the only one in recent years that comes to mind and she still has to deal with the occasional conservative who wants her to step down." she continued. "Aren't things like that in the Muggle world too?"

"No." he replied and his forehead creased for a few moments. "Well, not to such an absurd degree anyway." he amended.

"I'll understand if you want to marry somebody else, but I'd like for you to at least consider keeping me around. If not as secondary wife, then at least as a concubine." Narcissa requested and Harry was suddenly very grateful that he wasn't drinking at the moment, because he was quite sure that snorting tea all over the one he was talking too was just as impolite in the Wizarding World as the Muggle World.

"What?!" Harry blurted out.

"I'd like to stay married to you. If not as your only or even as a secondary wife, then at least keep me as a concubine." Narcissa clarified, much to Harry's consternation and shock.

"W-w-w-w-what?!" he exclaimed.

"I'm assuming you don't have those in the Muggle World either?" Narcissa asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not around this part of the world anyway." Harry managed to respond after a few moments and a large gulp of his cooling tea. "Marriages are between a man and a woman. ... Or more recently a woman and a woman or a man and a man. Whatever. ... But two people only." he said and shook his head. "Concubines... Well, not openly." he finished.

"It's not all that usual in the European Wizarding World either. I think there are perhaps two or three cluster marriages and not more then eight or nine openly acknowledged concubines of either gender within British borders. Though I'm told that the practise is rather wide-spread in the Middle East and Asia." Narcissa responded. "But it does still happen and even if you still decide to go through with the divorce instead of keeping me on as a secondary wife, being the concubine of the boy-who-lived would still be quite a respectable position." she continued and reached out to grasp his hands, holding them in hers. "So please. No divorces on my account."

"I think you'll think differently once I've removed the Oaths influence." Harry stated after a moment to consider his response.

"Perhaps, but I wouldn't count on it being enough to make a difference." Narcissa responded.

"I forced you into this! By all rights, you should be thrilled at being given a way out!" Harry frantically announced.

"Please, calm down. One incorrectly worded sentence and I may really think differently, but not because of any decision I've made about it." Narcissa requested.

"I'm going for a walk." Harry announced and stood up, hoping that some fresh air would provide some calm and mental clarity.

Besides, he hadn't thought to bring any of his belongings when they left Fistfangs office after the marriage. Everything from Privet Drive that he'd wanted to take along for his new independent life was still shrunk and resting on Fistfangs desk.

"Would you like me to join you?" Narcissa inquired.

"If you're going to continue talking about things that'll upset me, I think not." Harry replied and stopped in front of her, looking down at her with a serious expression. "But like I said earlier, you're your own woman and you make your own decisions. This marriage thing is only so that I could get my freedom." he announced. "And I am truly sorry about robbing you of yours for it." he apologised.

"I'll refrain from mentioning such things again." Narcissa responded and stood up. "And I think I will join you. This is as good a time as any to be seen in public and break the news. It is better if we do it on our own initiative then let the media dig something up on their own anyway." she declared. "In fact, we should consider visiting the Daily Prophet in Diagon Alley and have an advert about it published. Perhaps even agree to an interview. That way, we can ascertain that the truth we decide upon won't be twisted to suit the Medias needs too badly."

"The truth we decide upon?" Harry asked.

"Well, I'm guessing you don't want the actual truth to be known? And it's a really bad idea to let the media make up their own version of 'the truth'." Narcissa responded, a statement which made Harry nod his agreement, though he felt kind of dirty for doing so.

He'd always considered truth to be truth, he hadn't seen it as something to be created until this point.

/Slytherin, through and through./ he thought in the privacy of his own mind as Narcissa cleaned up and brought the tray back to the kitchen. /I have to remember that./ he reminded himself, mentally resolving to always keep in mind that Narcissa was more experienced, more intelligent and far more crafty then he was.

For a few moments, he even wondered if it was such a good idea to loosen his control over her and if it might not be better to keep her leash short.

But he was feeling guilty enough as it was, so he resolved to do as he'd already decided once he'd visited Gringotts and gotten his trunk back, in which the Oath of Loyalty was resting, hidden inside the second year standard book of spells.

* * *

"Harry Potter? Goodness, that is not a face I expected to see strolling through Hogsmeade on this beautiful day." Madam Rosmerta commented as Harry and Narcissa had left the apartment building and gotten no further then ten meters away from the door. Harry hadn't really reflected over the address before, but he now realized that he was now living opposite of The Three Broomsticks. "Enjoying your summer vacation?" she asked with a friendly smile.

"Hello, Rosmerta. It's good to see you." he greeted the cheerful woman, but didn't respond to her question. Sure, he now had freedom and a Dursley-free home of his own, but he wouldn't have any of it if Sirius hadn't been killed, which tainted what might otherwise have been the potentially best summer ever.

"Isn't it horrible, what with you-know-who being back and all?" Rosmerta inquired, before she blinked and appeared to realize who she was talking too. "Oh. Right. You already know all of that, don't you." she added with a sheepish expression. "I read about the Ministry of Magic thing. Did you really see him in person?" she asked.

"Yeah. No way for Fudge to deny it this time." Harry replied and Rosmerta nodded, then appeared to notice that Narcissa had stopped walking and stood side-by-side with Harry for the first time.

"Mrs Malfoy." she greeted her with a polite nod, though her expression was somewhat distant and not at all as friendly as she had been when talking to Harry.

"Mrs Potter-Black actually, Miss Rosmerta." Narcissa countered, a statement which made Rosmerta nearly loose her hold on the broom she had been using to sweep in front of the entrance to TTB before she took a break upon spotting Harry.

"W-what?" Rosmerta gasped, looking between Harry and Narcissa with a disbelieving expression. Narcissa proudly showed off both engagement and wedding rings, while Harry somewhat sheepishly flashed his rings for a moment, before shoving his hands into his pockets. "Y-you're ma-married?" she stuttered.

"Since yesterday." Harry agreed.

"I... Well... It's... Well, congratulations, I guess." Rosmerta managed to get out, occasionally glancing down at Narcissa's rings with a disbelieving expression.

"Thank you." Narcissa responded.

"Thanks." Harry added.

"B-but what a-about Mr Malfoy?" Rosmerta inquired with a curious expression.

"The marriage was dissolved because he failed to uphold his end of the marriage contract." Harry replied.

"I read that he's contesting his sentence. What happens if he gets off? Is it still a breach of contract?" Rosmerta inquired and Harry shrugged with a suddenly extremely worried expression, having no real idea what might happen then and never really having considered that before.

"He won't get off." Narcissa assured the other witch and surprised Harry. "I'm not able to testify against him, but I can and will contact the prosecution to give them a few nudges in the right directions. He'll get to see the inside of Azkaban for a very long time." she explained.

"Oh." Rosmerta exclaimed with a stunned expression. "Well good! ... I guess." she commented, looking between the two newlyweds with a curious expression, clearly wanting to say or ask something, but not able to bring herself to actually do it.

"Well, it was nice seeing you again, Rosmerta. We'll likely meet again, seeing as I now live in the neighbourhood." Harry stated with a friendly smile.

"I'll be looking forward to it, Harry. My door is always open to you." she assured the younger man. "Have a nice day, Mr and Mrs Potter-Black." she said with a more serious expression.

Narcissa briefly considered raising the issue that they were actually Lord and Lady Potter-Black, not Mr and Mrs. But just like she had before, she figured that Rosmerta had been shocked enough by the Malfoy turned Potter-Black issue. Correcting her about the nobility issue could wait until a later time.

Although, come to think of it, they weren't actually Lord and Lady yet, so Rosmerta was in essence correct.

"Well, the news will be all over Hogsmeade before long." Narcissa commented once the two of them were out of hearing range. Rosmerta was a well-known gossip when it came to things that she wasn't told in confidence, or drunken ramblings, during her working hours.

"I guess." Harry agreed, wondering if it had been a mistake to get some fresh air out in public like this and if it might not have been better to simply open a window. Having Narcissa walking side-by-side with him didn't make it any easier to forget the earlier secondary-wife-or-at-least-a-concubine conversation. The two of them weren't touching and there was at least a solid two-three decimetres between the two of them at all times, but her mere presence assured that she was constantly on his mind.

Hogsmeade was really quite different this time of year, he reflected. He'd suspected such to be the case and that was why he'd asked Fistfang to look into buying a place in Hogsmeade over Diagon Alley. Most of the times he'd visited Hogsmeade, it had been filled by Hogwarts students and those few times when it hadn't, he'd been too busy sneaking around to really take note of the place.

While there were a few others out and about, it was much calmer then Diagon Alley with its near constant hustle-and-bustle and this also provided a certain amount of anonymity. With no real need to constantly look where one was going in order to avoid bumping into somebody, people weren't quite as attentive and it took several minutes before somebody else realized that Harry Potter was walking the streets of Hogsmeade.

"Harry Potter? Mrs Malfoy?" a surprised voice exclaimed.

"Hello, Susan. Out shopping?" Harry greeted the surprised Hufflepuff, nodding at the Honeydukes bag she was carrying.

"Yes. I needed some sweets for tonight. There's a sleepover..." she replied with a distracted tone of voice, looking oddly at the two of them.

"Greetings, Miss Bones. And since our marriage yesterday, it's Lady Potter-Black." Narcissa corrected the younger girl, who suddenly looked right on the edge of fainting from shock.

"You all right there, Susan?" Harry asked her, preparing himself to dart forward and holding the girl up in case she should actually faint.

"Yes, I thought I..." Susan started, before what she'd heard appeared to register completely. "Lady Potter-Black? Marriage?!" she exclaimed and stared at Harry. "You're married?! To her?!"

"Yes, this is my wife, Narcissa Potter-Black." Harry agreed with a nod towards Narcissa, though his expression was faintly uncomfortable under Susan's extremely close and surprised scrutiny.

"This... I... Incredible... I've got... Unbelievable... I... How... Gotta... I'm... Married..." Susan mumbled incoherently as her gaze went back and forth between Harry and Narcissa for a few seconds, then she simply walked off, still mumbling what appeared to be nearly random words to herself.

"Interesting girl." Narcissa dryly commented with a single raised eyebrow.

"I guess we'd better take care of that advert. Everybody who finds out seems so shocked that they probably can't give a coherent story when telling somebody else." Harry sighed with a shake of his head.

"That might not be a bad idea." Narcissa agreed. "Shall we?" she asked and held out her left hand towards him.

"Lets." Harry complied and reached out to take her hand, before she Apparated the two of them to one of the Apparition Points at Diagon Alley, the one closest to the Daily Prophet.

The End! ( For now... )


	6. Chapter 6

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Chapter Five:

"Due to the urgency involved we simply can't wait for those that have yet to arrive, so this emergency meeting of the Order of the Phoenix is now called to order." Dumbledore said as he quickly strode into the room and up to his seat, shocking those present with his frazzled appearance. His hair was in disarray, his long beard had knotted in places and his robe was rumpled. Those that had seen him yesterday, were surprised to note that he was wearing the same robe today as he had yesterday, which hadn't happened for as long as anyone could remember.

Had anyone present been able to tell his mental state, they would have known that the old wizard hardly had slept at all and that his mind was a jumbled mess of worry, confusion, fear, apprehension, guilt and a significant amount of anger. After first checking for Harry at Privet Drive, he'd then spent the better part of yesterday and the night scrying for Harry using various means, both common, uncommon and downright unique. He had slept for just two hours and then tried again.

The very moment that Gringotts reopened for business, he'd went there and used all his considerable clout in an attempt to find out just where Harry was staying as all he'd been able to find out, was that his attempts to locate Harry had been blocked by seemingly impenetrable Goblin Wards that had recently been erected.

Unfortunately, he'd been blocked and not even his most trusted allies and informants amongst the Goblins had been able to find out anything for him. Next he'd went to the Ministry and tried his best there as well, but hadn't really found out anything he didn't already know, just received confirmations of already known or at least strongly suspected facts.

Harry was indeed emancipated, having received Petunia Dursley's written permission and with assistance from a Mr Fistfang at Gringotts legal department, all the paperwork had been filed and rapidly processed in due order. He'd also filed and received a marriage license, also with assistance from Mr Fistfang. The marriage was also already processed and written into all pertinent records. Narcissa's divorce from Lucius Malfoy had already been processed and acknowledged prior to the marriage.

As an adult, Harry had been removed from the Underage Magic Control System, which had also remotely removed all Ministry Tracking Spells, including the ones Dumbledore had layered on top of the Ministry's which explained why he hadn't been informed that Harry had been using magic when Tonks was hexed.

Harry had also become eligible for some licenses and permits restricted to adults, but to Dumbledore's relief, he hadn't received any and hadn't connected himself to the Floo Network. Which meant that Harry wasn't Apparating around on his own, he likely had to rely on Narcissa for that. It was a small comfort that Harry wasn't going places alone, but Albus was willing to take whatever he could at the moment. Even going around with Narcissa was better then Harry being out completely on his own.

After not finding anything at the Ministry either that told him where Harry was, he'd returned to Gringotts and tried to wheedle the information out of Fistfang. The goblin in question had been most unhelpful however, only telling him that Harry Potter was indeed a client of his and as such, was protected by client confidentiality. The snarky creature had been quick to add that even if Harry hadn't been, Fistfang would still have remained quiet on the subject. Even bribery had proved unsuccessful, as Fistfang was hoping to be put on a permanent retainer for the Potter-Black family and didn't want to do anything that would risk such an appointment.

As all of these means had proved unsuccessful, Dumbledore had called the Order to an emergency meeting.

"Where's the fire, Albus?" Moody inquired, the first one to have arrived. He was outfitted in what appeared to be several layers of duelling robes and had an impressive amount of visible wands strapped to various parts of his body. No doubt, he also had an equal or quite possible even larger amount of wands that were hidden. On his belt hung bottles and vials of different potions, as well as a nasty looking jagged knife and an even more threatening axe.

Everybody had seated themselves as far away from Moody as possible and those who were seated somewhat nearby, was leaning away from him and jumped in their seats every time the bottles and vials on his belt clinked together as the grizzled former Auror moved.

Snape was seated opposite the old Auror and didn't look intimidated, instead he looked greatly intrigued and had a hard time tearing his gaze away from some of the potions Moody was carrying.

"Harry is missing and has been since yesterday." Dumbledore gravely announced. "We have to locate him as soon as possible."

"What?!" Molly Weasley exclaimed and paled in fear. "He's been kidnapped?" she asked in a strained tone of voice, seemingly almost about to leap out of her seat and run off searching for him on the spot.

"Worse. He's eloped." Dumbledore announced in a tired tone of voice. While there had been times when he'd functioned without sleep for days, that had all been when he was a younger man. These days, rejuvenating spells and potions barely affected him at all and he was thus functioning at less then optimal levels. "He's left Privet Drive by unknown means, though I suspect Goblin involvement. His current location is unknown and I've been unable to locate it, as it is protected by Goblin Wards that I have yet to penetrate."

"Well... That's good, isn't it?" Remus Lupin asked and flinched as nearly the entire room turned their full attention to him. "They wouldn't just interfere with the life of a wizard for no reason, as that would be breaking the Goblin Charta. If they've gotten involved, it must be because Harry asked them to do so. And if they've made a good enough job that even you can't find him, well, then neither can you-know-who."

"I know of two ways how to find him, though I will not use one of them as it involves a human sacrifice. But Voldemort won't hesitate to use that way. The other is a rather complex scrying ritual which is guaranteed to succeed, but will take nearly five days to complete." Dumbledore revealed. "That is time we simply do not have, as Voldemort could have him located in less then an hour using the sacrifice."

"Eloped..." Molly said and looked at Arthur with a worried expression. "Ginny was still home this morning, wasn't she?" she asked.

"She was this morning." Arthur agreed and looked over at the twins.

"Ickle Ginniekins was finishing helping with the inventory at our store..." one of them started.

"When we had to leave for this meeting. She should have gone home by now as we shut it down for the day." the second finished.

"Eloped?" Molly repeated and looked questioningly at Dumbledore.

"He married Narcissa Black, formerly Malfoy prior to a recent divorce, yesterday." Tonks said, which caused a round of gasps to erupt from around the room and which successfully managed to tear Snape's attention away from Moody's dangerous and exotic collection of potions.

"WHAT?!" Snape bellowed. Had she truly been divorced and he'd missed his chance to make a move on her, because of *POTTER* marrying her?! It was only by sheer willpower and intense curiosity to hear more about the situation that Snape didn't simply faint on the spot from the shock. Narcissa had always attracted him, though that attraction had as far as he knew never been returned. The two of them had been friendly over the years however and he had even been asked, and accepted, to become Draco's godfather.

"Indeed. I verified it earlier at the Ministry of Magic. Harry Potter has indeed married Narcissa, who was once again a Black after having her marriage to Lucius dissolved due to him failing to adhere to the terms agreed upon in their marriage contract." Dumbledore confirmed with a tired expression.

"We must find the poor lad and rescue him! He must be under the Imperious!" McGonagall exclaimed and nearly flew out of her seat, her fingers twitching as she just barely managed to avoid drawing her wand.

"He's actually not. I checked him out right after the wedding and he came out clean. He married her of his own free will and unaffected intent, crazy as that sounds." Tonks revealed, which made her the center of attention and caused McGonagall to slump back into her seat with a stunned expression.

"You were there?! And you didn't stop it?!" Snape snapped in a scathing tone of voice, his hands twitching and jerking as he suppressed the desire to whip out his wand and show the moronic Auror just how much pain he could put her through without actually killing her.

And if he should accidentally kill her, well, that wouldn't be so big a loss.

"He hexed me the moment I walked into the room and I was paralyzed through the entire wedding." Tonks argued angrily, still irked over the fact that she'd been bested by a mere kid. Granted, she had been kind of distracted by trying to get Narcissa to spill just what they were doing and then surprised by the room they had entered, but still. Being ambushed by a ruddy teenager with several years worth of schooling left to get through, that was just embarressing.

"You were there for it?!" Molly yelled.

"Silence! Our only concern at this moment is finding Harry." Dumbledore roared after finally having lost his patience with all this nonsense, which cowed the room back into silence. Only Alastor and Filius had seen the old wizard this out of control, and that had been during the war against Grindelwald. "Severus, I want you to go to the Dark Lord. Stick to him like a leech and give us a heads up the very moment he finds out about this. Arthur and Molly, I need you to give a certain book to William and tell him to take a week off. I need him to do the Ritual to find Harry and will compensate him for the loss of income. Nymphadora, I need you to discuss this with Shacklebolt and start a covert search for Harry. Only those who you can trust absolutely can be informed and included in this search, absolutely no one else can find out about this."

"Sorry that I'm late everyone." Mundungus announced as he walked through the door. "With such short notice, it's actually a wonder that I could make it at all..." he groused and then perked up. "But I have amazing news. You guys can never guess what I found out just before coming here!" he continued and grinned at the entire room, then held up a special extra issue of the Daily Prophet. "Check this out!" he laughed and the entire room fell silent as he unfolded the thinner-then-usual extra edition and displayed the three-word-headlined front page for everyone to see.

HARRY  
POTTER  
MARRIED!

"Oh no..." Dumbledore breathed and slumped in his seat. Even if Harry could be located, breaking the marriage up would be even harder now when it was public knowledge.

* * *

"Oh, I recognize it..." Narcissa mumbled as Harry put the Oath of Loyalty onto the table. "I haven't seen that since I signed it, but now I do remember signing it." she said and almost flinched away from the horrific document.

"This will be my final order to you, Narcissa." Harry told her and nodded at the magic paper. "You will help me, to the best of your ability, to make such changes as we see fit to this document so that you'll stay married to me until we're ready to divorce, not betray my secrets and yet not affect you otherwise." he told her and Narcissa nodded with a distasteful expression.

"All right." she sighed. "What have you used it for so far?" she asked with a faintly fearful glance at it.

"Well, for you to see me at the Muggles as soon and as covertly as possible. For you not to be seen by your son, husband or their associates while doing it. To not tell anyone that you're going and avoid being detected. To buy engagement rings. That you'd ask to see me. To obey everything that I tell you and to answer all my questions with the truth." Harry replied after a quick glance at the OoL to ensure that he was remembering correctly. "Before that, all it has been used for is to ensure that you wouldn't betray the secrets of the Blacks."

"I'm happy this way, you know. There's little need for changes." Narcissa commented and then looked thoughtful. "Of course, with your instruction to obey whatever you say, that could be an induced feeling. As I don't remember seeing you at the Muggles at all, I'm guessing you gave me some verbal orders then? Can you remember what they were?"

"That you'd approve of the marriage. To ignore everything bad that Draco and Lucius had told you about me. For you not to talk about that first meeting and for you to forget everything that was said during it. Not to tell anybody about this apartment. For you to furnish the apartment and make all the wedding arrangements. For you not to mind that my witness wasn't human." Harry replied after a few moments to consider things and try to recall just what he'd said to Narcissa during that meeting.

"All right. That probably explains why the notion of a divorce makes me want to throw up and why it feels as if somebody is poking into my heart with a rusty sacrificial knife whenever you bring it up." she commented and looked at the Oath. "May I see it?" she asked and Harry cautiously handed it to her. She hastily read through it all, some of the fine print she read twice, before she put it down.

"Well?" Harry asked.

"I suppose the simplest way to go about it would be for you to put me in a full-body bind, take back all your previous verbal orders, remove everything you've put down on the Oath and then make a fresh start of it with completely new instructions." Narcissa reluctantly replied and pushed the Oath towards him.

"Why bind you?" Harry asked.

"If you don't and then remove my conditioning, I'll likely take you down before you can put anything new into place." Narcissa admitted with a faint shrug.

"Point." Harry agreed and swallowed nervously. "I was thinking about replacing everything with a command for you not to divorce me until I'm of age and not betray my secrets." he continued and looked curiously at her.

"That might be enough to accomplish your goals." Narcissa said. "But you should really consider some further instructions. Like for me not to hurt you, either physically, emotionally or reputation wise. ... Or arrange for somebody else to do the above in my place."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"If you remove everything else, I might not approve of this arrangement quite as much as I do now. I could conceivably be rather resentful for being married to you then, in spite of the advantages it holds for me. Especially as I should then be able to remember the precise way of how you made me want to marry you." she explained and Harry nodded.

"That makes sense, I guess." Harry admitted with a wry expression, suddenly quite pleased with himself for getting her to assist him with this. She was, as he'd already realized, quite a bit craftier then he was.

"The above, should be enough to accomplish your goals. But I would rather prefer it if you added a few other things as well." Narcissa suggested and Harry tilted his head consideringly, before he nodded for her to continue. "The above will prevent me from working against you, but it won't stop me from resenting, loathing or even hating you. So a command for me to be pleased about the arrangement, would be quite nice. Not just for me, but for you as well. If you intend for us to live together here, your home life could become quite unpleasant with a resentful wife."

"I won't do that." Harry argued. "The idea is for this to affect you as little as possible. I don't even know how you were able to suggest this in the first place." he said and scratched the back of his head. "How were you able to make that suggestion?" he wondered out loud, but Narcissa took it as a question and thus replied to it.

"You give the orders, but it's up to me to interpret them and it's my interpretation of your order which the magic binds me to. What you probably meant was that the changes were to be as small as possible from how I was before you started messing with this thing." Narcissa said and nodded at the Oath. "What I chose to interpret it as, is as small a change from how I am now." she added. "It's the same as the deal with not telling anyone of this place. You meant not anyone or anything when you said it, but I took it to mean anybody human and I was thus able to tell a house elf where this apartment is located. It's likely the same way I managed to give up Sirius. Although he was never officially thrown out of the family, my mind took more stock in the fact that Walburga threw him out then the fact that the paperwork was never done. These things are powerful and insidious tools, but they're far from flawless and rely heavily on both parties understanding of a particular command."

"Oh." Harry said and recalled how the Oath had stated something like that when he first read it through. His expression twisted and he shook his head. "Well, I won't mess anymore with your mind and emotions then I absolutely have to." he stated firmly.

"Fine. Then you're good to go." Narcissa sighed with a despondent expression. "I thought you said that we would be doing this together? Do I have no say about my future, at all?" she asked with a sad tone of voice and tears creeping out of the corner of her eyes.

"Why are you acting this way?" Harry asked her with faintly growing suspicions in the back of his mind and she flinched, looking much like a kid caught with the hand in the cookie jar.

"To guilt you into doing what I want." she admitted, looking away from him. "I certainly won't mind being rid of this whole 'be honest' deal you forced upon me!" she snapped angrily and looked back at him, focusing an angry glare at him.

"Petrificus Totalus." Harry stated quite calmly, having fished out his wand during their conversation and having aimed it at her beneath the table. Narcissa suddenly froze up completely and Harry looked consideringly at her for a few moments. "All my previous orders, commands and requests to you are hereby null and void. Do not follow any of them." he told her and observed how her eyes glazed over for a few moments.

He turned his attention to the Oath and brought that over to him, then studiously erased every command she had ever been given with it, even the original one that had been there when he first got it.

"Never betray the secrets of the Black or Potter-Black family or the members thereof, no matter the situation or incentive." he spoke out loud as he painstakingly wrote it down. "Do not divorce Harry unless it is by mutual agreement between him and you." he added, still speaking out loud as he wrote. "Never cause either physical, emotional or reputational harm to any members of the family Black or Potter-Black." he continued and put the quill he'd written with into the ink pot, looking up at his frozen wife.

For a few irrational moments, he considered leaving her like that until he'd come of age, but he shook his head and dismissed that notion.

"Finite incantatem." he called out and watched as Narcissa let off a faint shudder as the spell was dissolved and control of her body returned to her once again.

* * *

"Ooooh, when I get my hands on that boy..." Molly groused as she appeared in the kitchen of the Burrow, Arthur having returned to his job which he'd skipped out of when the emergency meeting was called. Moments later, George and Fred popped into existence as well, their expressions brightening as their gazes locked onto Ginny and Ron.

"Ickle Ronniekins! You'll never guess what Harry..."

"Ickle Ginniekins! You'll never guess what Harry..."

The two brothers stopped and looked with a faintly bewildered expression at each other, obviously surprised that they hadn't managed the start-finish speech they'd perfected over the years. The two of them had spoken at precisely the same time and on top of that, spoken to different people. /Excitement, no doubt./ both of them thought in chorus.

"You two stop that." Molly snapped.

"Harry? What's wrong?" Ron asked with a worried expression.

"What happened to Harry?" Ginny demanded to know.

"He's gotten married." Fred quickly replied before Molly could hush them up.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ginny screamed, her shrill howl of unimaginable loss causing the windows to tremble.

"To Narcissa Malfoy." George said the moment Ginny stopped screaming.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ron screamed, his panicked squeal being nearly as shrill as Ginny's had been.

"I truly wish you two could think things over before opening your mouths." Molly muttered as she stared at her two youngest, who were currently sitting completely paralyzed with angry/scared/upset expressions on their faces.

"We always..." George started.

"Do, mom..." Fred finished, both of them with rather pleased expressions and they mentally congratulated themselves on a job well done. Seeing the expression on their mothers face and the look in her eyes however, both of them decided that they'd been away from the store for far too long and that it was time to return.

Now!

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ann Granger had just recently seen her forty-second birthday and hadn't spent any time on the tracks since her days in school when she'd been moderately talented at track and field, as well as being her schools premiere female cross-country runner. But when she recovered from the unexpected surprise her daughters scream reverbing through the house caused her, she darted across the room, up the stairs, down the hall and into Hermione's room at speeds that active professional runners would envy.

She stared in utter surprise at her daughter, who was seated on her bed with that Wizarding newspaper in her hands, staring down at the front page with a completely nonplussed expression. Ann had been somewhat concerned when her daughter had started reading all the Wizarding news she could get her hands on with an intensity bordering obsessive when she returned from school. But although some of it had obviously been upsetting to her before, none of it had affected her enough to let out a blood-curdling scream like that before.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Ann asked, but her daughter didn't even appear to hear her. Ann blinked as she saw the front page, as Hermione was skimming through the second page. "'Harry Potter Married!'. Isn't he one of those two male friends of yours?" she asked, then blinked as Hermione paled and the paper fell from her suddenly life-less hands.

"Narcissa Malfoy?!" she yelped. "He *married* Narcissa Malfoy?!" she screamed and snatched the paper right back up, getting right back to her reading. "What was he thinking? No, he couldn't have been thinking, at all! Imperious? The Slave Draught? Was he tortured into compliance?" Hermione ranted under her breath as she read the paper with a deadly intensity.

Ann sighed and shook her head, then calmly left the room and closed the door behind her. She knew from previous experience that it wouldn't do her any good to try and get Hermione's attention when she was like this. She'd just have to wait until her daughter snapped out of it and ask her then.

Questions about that 'slave draught' and the torture Hermione had mentioned would certainly be amongst them!

She'd always suspected that there were things about the Wizarding World that Hermione wasn't telling her, but that one slip of the tongue had raised her suspicions even more. It was time for a little heart-to-heart between mother and daughter, one that was way overdue.

* * *

Narcissa blinked a couple of times, then her gaze instantly settled upon Harry Potter and her eyes narrowed. The two of them simply stared at one another until Harry suddenly averted his eyes with a guilty expression. Narcissa kept on staring at him in silence for a while longer.

"Well, it appears as if my concerns were somewhat unnecessary, after all." Narcissa finally commented.

"Huh?" Harry inquired.

"While I was still being affected by your previous orders, I remember being afraid that I'd hate and resent you for what you did once you turned me lose. But I don't." she declared.

"But... Why?" Harry asked.

"I no longer have to speak the truth, so you will have to use that thing if you want to find out." she replied with a nod at the Oath and Harry glanced down at it for a second. "But I'm not going to let you do that. Stupefy!" Narcissa continued and Harry was suddenly knocked unconscious, his brief distraction allowing Narcissa to get the jump on him. He slumped in his chair from the unexpected Stunner he was suddenly struck with, completely out of it.

Narcissa darted forward and captured his head before it struck the table, gently lowering it until he was resting against the surface of the table. She let out a relieved breath of air and leaned back in her seat. She'd taken quite the chance there, risking being punished by the Oath for harming a member of the Potter-Black family. But she'd been reasonably sure that he wouldn't be hurt and had been prepared to prevent him from being so. She grabbed his wand from his listless hand and then threw it over to the kitchen sink, where it would be well out of the way in case he decided to do something stupid once he woke up again.

She had been forced to use a rather mild Stunner to prevent him from being knocked out of his seat, so she quickly went to work and pulled the Oath, quill and ink over to her side of the table. She grabbed the quill and smirked as she looked down at one of the most powerful means there was of controlling somebody.

"You should have listened when I made further suggestions and ordered me to make other suggestions as well." she informed her unconscious husband and put quill to paper after first having erased everything Harry had written, hastily scribbling down some things of her own onto it. She smirked to herself as she put the quill back into the pot, staring down at the Oath with a satisfied expression as Harry started to stir, already having shaken off the pitifully weak Stunner she'd hit him with in order not to risk harm to him.

The sound of paper tearing caused Harry to look up and he blinked groggily as Narcissa hastily reduced the Oath of Loyalty to pieces of useless waste.

"What are you doing?!" Harry exclaimed.

"I'm destroying it, rendering you unable to use it on me again. Ever." she calmly informed him with a wide grin. "Though first I made some changes to your earlier pitiful attempt at putting me under your control while allowing me way too much freedom. In fact, I got rid of everything you had written." she said and then used her wand to vanish the destroyed document, so he couldn't repair it and make use of it again.

"What did you do?" he whispered in a strained tone of voice.

"You'd really like to know, don't you?" she asked and then smirked at him. "Well, now when you can't force me to tell the truth anymore, you won't. At least not unless I honestly and truly feel like sharing that information with you." she said and stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some urgent business to attend to. I'll be back in the evening, probably around seven. I'd appreciate it if you'd made arrangements for the house elves and have supper prepared by then. Your wand is over at the sink, by the way." she said and waved cheerfully at him, before she vanished with a silent pop.

Harry stared in horror at the spot where Narcissa had been standing, then down at the table at the spot where the Oath of Loyalty had been resting in pieces before Narcissa had vanished it.

"Oh Merlin, what have I done?" he breathed and wondered just what Narcissa was up to now.

And just how much trouble he would be in from this point onwards!

He could somewhat understand that she removed everything he'd put down, but he *really* wondered what sort of things she'd put down herself before destroying the magical contract!

And why she had even bothered putting something down in the first place. She couldn't turn herself into the most powerful witch ever, she couldn't make herself immune to him hexing her or any other really benificial thing, as far as he understood it. So why had she bothered to use it at all instead of just destroying it right away after erasing his commands?

The End! ( For now... )


	7. Chapter 7

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Chapter Six:

"Good evening, Minister Fudge." Narcissa greeted the older man standing behind his opulent desk as she was shown the way into his office by a pretty little witch that she knew from Lucius had been placed there by Lord Nott. Fudge hadn't done anything blackmail worthy to her yet, but Lucius figured that it was only a matter of time before the weak-willed fool succumbed to temptation.

"Lady Potter-Black." he tersely greeted her with a stiff expression as she walked into the room and seated herself in a chair in front of his desk, without being invited to do so. "What can I do for you?" he asked as he seated himself again, having risen to his feet as Narcissa was showed into the room.

Fudge had been just as shocked as an untold amount of others when the special edition of the Daily Prophet had landed on his desk and he was furiously trying to come up with the reason for why the new wife of Harry Potter was here to meet with him. All he'd been told when his secretary had informed him that Lady Narcissa Potter-Black wanted to meet with him, was that she had 'important and private' business to discuss with him and him alone.

Narcissa waited until his secretary had left and closed the door, then deftly cast a few privacy charms and put her wand away.

"Do you know how many of your actions lately have aided the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters?" she started, but didn't wait for a response as Fudge was opening and closing his mouth in silence, trying to come up with a response. "Almost everything Lucius have asked you to do, have been on the Dark Lords instructions. I also have Lucius records and bank statements, revealing just how much money he has donated to the Ministry in general and also how much that he's put into your private accounts." she continued and leaned forward, staring with a fiercely intent look at the now shocked older man. "If I so desire, I could get you a life sentence in Azkaban. ... If I so desire..." she finished, trailing off with an expectant look at Fudge.

"I didn't..." Fudge started to protest, only to be interrupted.

"You're the Minister of Magic. You should have known better. Instead, you let the Dark Lords loyal Death Eaters dictate your actions, provide your main counsel and brought the British Wizarding World to the brink of disaster in doing so." Narcissa informed him and smirked at the now broken man in front of her. "I could be persuaded to keep my peace about your crimes however..." she continued and trailed off.

"What can I do for you, Lady Potter-Black?" Fudge asked with a pleading expression.

"Quite a lot, in fact. Quite a lot indeed..." she replied and smirked at him, as the Minister of Magic trembled in his seat and absently wondered if Azkaban and the Dementors might not be preferable to whatever Narcissa had in mind for him.

Her smile widened as she saw how the Minister trembled before her.

She did wonder if she was doing the right thing in regards to her son, but then again, he'd likely be safer in a holding cell then if he was running free. Lucius had filled his head with nonsense about the glory of serving the Dark Lord, as if there was any glory whatsoever to be hand in serving anybody else but yourself!

Her former husband truly was a moron.

Anyway, with his head filled with that kind of nonsense, it was probably only a matter of time until Draco did something irrevocably foolish, like becoming a Death Eater himself.

No, he really was better off and by far safer in a Ministry holding cell.

* * *

"I found it." Auror Davies exclaimed and Kingsley Shacklebolt nodded as a paralyzed Draco was levitated out of the room, so he gestured for the WCT team to move in. The MLE's experts on Wards, Curses and Traps forced everybody out of the room and fifteen minutes later, Aurors flooded into the hidden storeroom of Malfoy Manor. Shacklebolt nodded and led the WCT team to the Master Bedroom, where he directed them to a painting of Aemon Malfoy.

"There should be a hidden cabinet behind that painting." Kingsley said and was once again asked to leave the room. Two minutes later, he was readmitted and opened the cabinet. A small smile crept onto Kingsley's lips as he laid his eyes on Lucius collection of extra wands, something they had always suspected that the sneaky old Death Eater had, but had never been able to find. "Tag 'em and bag 'em." he told the two junior Aurors who was accompanying him, then he returned and observed in satisfied silence as dark artefact after dark artefact was removed from a room hidden behind a well-stocked liquor cabinet.

Along with what had been recovered from the other two hidden storage rooms and the wand cabinet, Kingsley had no doubt whatsoever that there was now enough evidence to put Lucius in Azkaban for life, or quite possibly even land him a pleasant little snogging session with some nice Dementor.

Draco was too young for Azkaban, but they could at least detain him and question him about what he knew about his fathers Dark activities, though they'd have to release him later on. Unless that stuff they found in the hidden compartment in Draco's school trunk could provide them with some other hold on the little brat.

But all in all, Kingsley Shacklebolt felt rather pleased with himself, though he wondered who had supplied the extremely helpful tips and instructions on where to find these little treasure droves.

/It doesn't really matter, though. With all this new evidence, there is *no* way that bastard will be able to buy his way out of this!/ Kingsley thought.

* * *

"What's the meaning of this?!" Edwina Nott exclaimed as the ones who had knocked on the door turned out to be a team of Ministry Aurors, who proceeded to grab her wand and push her up against the wall. "Answer me! Now!" she demanded.

"Mom!" Theodore yelled and cursed himself for leaving his wand back at his room.

"Take him too." Tonks ordered and two Aurors darted away and soon had little Nott Jr prepared for a little visit to a Ministry holding cell for interrogation. "All right, you all know what to do. Find the secret library, arrest every Nott you find and detain anyone else for further questioning. Chop-chop, people. We've got work to do here and other places to go later, so don't dawdle!" Tonks said and five teams of Aurors spread out over the house, as she pulled out the Nott warrant and showed it to Edwina who paled as she read through it.

"What... Who... That's impossible..." she mumbled in shock.

"Take her away." Tonks ordered and put the warrant into the back of the pile of papers in the folder she carried. "Crabbe next..." she mused as she saw the name on the second warrant she'd been given. She ran her fingers across the pile of papers inside the folder and hastily counted to at least five more family-wide warrants. "This is going to be a busy day. No search for Harry today for this little Auror." she sighed under her breath and shook her head, focusing instead on the here and now instead of any future raids or Order business.

* * *

"Amelia." Dumbledore greeted the Head of Magical Law Enforcement as he walked into the Potions Laboratory at Hogwarts, looking around with raised eyebrows as a team of Aurors and the ministry Potion Mistress, Charlotte Daybreak, went through the supplies, stores and books. At the other end of the room he could also see that the door to Severus quarters had been opened and another team of Aurors inside going through that room as well. "What is going on here?" he asked with a confused expression.

"Albus. Precisely the man I wanted to see." Amelia said and gestured at two burly Aurors. "Horncrow, Smelting. Arrest this man." she said. The two men nodded and cautiously approached the most respected Wizard in all of Britain.

"Arrest me? Whatever for?" Albus asked in utter surprise, but none the less held both of his hands up in a peaceful gesture, showing that he wasn't going to resist his arrest.

"Aiding and abetting a known Death Eater. Obstruction of justice. Endangering minors. Use of forbidden magic and as an accomplice to Use of forbidden magic." Amelia replied and showed Dumbledore the warrant for his arrest. "Nobody is above the law, Albus. Not even you." she said with a disappointed expression.

"What?" Dumbledore asked as Horncrow took his wand and pocketed it as Smelting reluctantly placed magic restrains around Dumbledore's wrists.

"Severus Snape is once again a Death Eater and you've prevented justice from being done in his case, as you knew all about that and yet failed to report it. His pardon only applies to crimes comitted before his trial, not whatever he has done after it. We also have several reports on how you've purposely endangered the students of this school. You've used Legimency without Ministry approval and apparently approved of its use by others, namely your Potions Professor, by not reporting his use of it on students to the Ministry." Amelia replied and shook her head in utmost dissapointment. "I thought better of you, Albus. I really did."

* * *

"Artie. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to head on over to the MLE with me." Auror Gerald Darkwaters said and Arthur Weasley looked up from his desk, surprised to see his old friend stand there with a contrite expression on his face.

"Gerry? What's going on." Arthur asked.

"You're going to be questioned. You're suspected for being an accomplice to assault and battery of a minor." Gerald replied with an uncomfortable expression and a sad tone of voice.

"Come again?" Arthur exclaimed.

"You've been accused of being aware that Harry Potter-Black was being abused, yet not reported it to the authorities or did anything else to prevent it. There's also some accusations about not reporting an active Death Eater professor at Hogwarts, one Severus Snape." Gerald replied and Arthur paled.

He'd always suspected that Harry might just have been telling the truth about the hell-hole that was Privet Drive and the Dursleys, but when he'd brought those concerns to Dumbledore, the ancient Headmaster had assured him that there was no way that the Muggles would ever treat a member of their own family that way and that Harry must simply be exaggerating matters.

Now when he knew better, he had feared that something like this might come to pass. Tonks had spoken with him, Molly and Remus earlier on, asking if they knew about Harry's abuse and shocking the hell out of them. Ever since, he'd been worried about something along these lines.

He couldn't even claim that he didn't deserve it either. He *should* have known better. He *should* have done something. But he'd let Dumbledore convince him that nothing unusual was going on, other then a teenaged cry for attention.

"Am... Am I under arrest?" he asked.

"Not yet. But you are wanted for questioning. You, your wife and your children." Gerald replied and once again offered Arthur an apologetic look. "Sorry old friend, but I'm going to have to insist that you come with me. I'm afraid that if they send anyone else, they won't be nearly as lenient."

"All right. Thank you, Gerald." Arthur responded and rose to his feet.

"Is it true?" Gerald asked as the two of them walked out of the office and headed for the MLE.

"Yes." Arthur whispered with a guilty expression.

"Do you have a lawyer, Arthur?" Gerald asked after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

"No." he responded and shook his head.

"I'll give mine a Floo call. He'll know what to do." Gerald offered and Arthur put a grateful hand on Gerald's shoulder.

"Thank you." he whispered as the two men slowly walked through the ministry.

* * *

"Lady Potter-Black." Nosehook greeted the woman in question.

"Mr Nosehook." Narcissa responded distantly with a barely acknowledging nod to the goblin in charge of Malfoy affairs. "This is Mr Fistfang, my barrister." she added and introduced the goblin who had accompanied her into Nosehook's office.

"We are acquainted." Nosehook responded and gave Fistfang an acknowledging nod, to which Fistfang responded in kind. "What can I do for you, Lady Potter-Black? Your own accounts are not handled by me and you no longer have access to the Malfoy accounts due to your divorce."

"Actually, that's not entirely accurate." Narcissa replied with a faint smile and nodded at Fistfang.

"Lady Potter-Black is correct. As of fifteen minutes ago, Lucius Malfoy was tried and convicted for his crimes. He received the Dementors Kiss no less then seven minutes ago. I have a copy of his death certificate here." Fistfang replied and placed the document in question down in front of Nosehook.

"Interesting, but that still doesn't entitle Lady Potter-Black access to the Malfoy accounts as she divorced Mr Malfoy prior to his death." Nosehook responded with what almost appeared to be an apologetic expression.

"Do you acknowledge that Draco Malfoy is the rightful heir of Lucius Malfoy?" Fistfang inquired and Nosehook nodded. "Draco Malfoy is a minor and after the death of Lucius Malfoy, he was placed under the guardianship of his mother who receives full custody, Lady Narcissa Potter-Black. I have the documentation here." Fistfang replied and offered another document to Nosehook who quickly looked it through. "As his custodian, Lady Potter-Black does indeed have full access to the Malfoy accounts until the young boy becomes of age. Do you acknowledge this?" Fistfang finished.

"I guess I do." Nosehook replied and his teeth were suddenly bared in a wide goblin grin. "Like I said earlier, what can I do for you, Lady Potter-Black?" he inquired.

"There are quite a few properties and holdings which Draco has suddenly lost all interest in. Luckily, I've found a buyer for all of them and we even managed to agree upon a fair price." Narcissa said with a barely concealed smirk.

"Oh? Who's the buyer?" Nosehook asked and pulled out a thick folder which contained the deeds for the Malfoy family.

"I am." Narcissa replied and Nosehook suddenly laughed.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Lady Potter-Black. You could have been born a Goblin." he complimented her and Fistfang nodded as well, an equally wide grin on his lips as Nosehook had on his as all three of them settled down to do business.

* * *

"Where could she be?" Harry muttered to himself as he paced the room, ignoring the smell of food from the kitchen. Dobby and Winky had been thrilled at his offer and he'd been so distracted by thoughts of whatever his 'wife' was up to that he'd agreed to bond the both of them and even done so, before he really realized just what he'd done and how disappointed Hermione would be with him for doing it.

He'd been unable to do anything else, having spent the rest of his time waiting, fretting and watching the grandfather clock Narcissa had placed in the living room when she decorated the place. Time had never seemed to take this long a time to pass as it had this afternoon. At times, it seemed like the clock hadn't had time to move at all since the last time he looked at it.

"Stupid!" he berated himself for at least the hundredth time since Narcissa left. "I'm just as naive as Dumbledore!" he stated out loud as realization struck and caused him to shake his head in dismay at his own moronic behaviour. Dumbledore trusted Snape, which was pure idiocy in Harry's mind.

But he'd trusted Narcissa, which had proven to be a really crappy idea as well!

"Yes and yes. I've noticed that too." Narcissa commented as she unexpectedly walked down the stairs, running a towel through her hair and wearing an extremely comfortable-looking terrycloth robe, obviously fresh from a shower or bath. He blinked in surprise, unaware that she had been home. She must have aparated directly to her own room at some point. She sniffed and nodded in approval at the scent of cooking. "Ah, excellent. I see that you followed my suggestion. That's perfect, because I'm starving. I haven't taken the time to eat since breakfast." she said and carelessly tossed the towel at the couch, confident that the house elf or house elves would deal with that before long.

"Where have you been?" Harry demanded to know.

"You were worried about me? How sweet." Narcissa replied with a mock-pleased grin and a sarcastic tone of voice. "Sorry, dear husband of mine, but that's none of your business." she retorted and Harry once again regretted his earlier foolish behaviour.

He hadn't really appreciated it for the god-given gift it was at the time, but Narcissa being forced to tell him the truth had obviously been a *very* good idea!

"What have you been doing?" he asked with a frantic expression.

"That's for me to know and reveal at my leisure, if at all." she replied with a sniff. "And don't plead like that. You're an Earl now or at least will be before long, so act like it. Command or request with authority, don't whimper your wants like some silly little infant." she instructed him and strode into the dining room.

"What *have* I done?" Harry mumbled and buried his face in his hands for a few seconds, before he straightened up and hurried after Narcissa into the dining room. She was standing at one end of the table and looked expectantly at him. "What?" he asked and looked around in confusion. She nodded pointedly at her chair and Harry sighed as he walked over, pulling it out for her and pushing it towards the table as she seated herself.

"You'll have to think and be conscious about things like that now. You'll be moving around in high society before long." she said and for a few brief moments, Harry was tempted to put his hands around her throat and throttle the troublesome woman before she could cause him more problems then she'd probably already had. "Please, be seated." she requested and gestured at the other end of the table.

Harry muttered curses under his breath and seated himself, glaring across the table at her with a look of pure fury.

"How much did you change?" Harry asked in a commanding tone of voice and Narcissa smiled with what appeared to be honest approval at his tone of voice.

"I removed everything that you had put down." she answered. "Do not fret or worry, however. You'll get what you want anyway. I will not betray the secrets of any members of this family. If we divorce each other, it will be by mutual agreement. Just don't expect me to give my agreement to such anytime soon. I might hurt you, but only if you give me a reason for it." she continued and then smirked. "And just think, all of this without me having changed in the slightest from how I was before you started messing with the Oath. Aren't you pleased at getting almost exactly what you want?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm as her eyes rolled around in their sockets.

"No." Harry groused, then blinked. "*If* we divorce? *Reason* for hurting me?" he questioned her earlier statements.

"Indeed. 'If'." she replied and leaned back. "I warned you earlier, did I not? That even without your foolish compulsion to approve of the marriage, I might want to continue it anyway as it is highly benificial for me. Well, it was as I suspected and I do indeed wish for this marriage to remain intact." she explained. "As for hurting you, well... Like I said, as long as you don't give me a reason for doing so, I've got no desire to cause you physical harm. So you might wish to restrain any sudden impulses to hit me or try something equally foolish that could change things in that regard." she informed him and nodded with approval as Winky entered bearing a silver tray with the appetizer, a vegetable soup and some freshly baked bread to go along with it.

Wretched creature that he was, at least it appeared that Dobby remembered her preferences.

"Instead of what you had put down, I wrote a few things of my own." Narcissa commented after Winky had left and Narcissa had nearly wolfishly reduced her bread to nothing but a few scattered crumbs. She really was starving after the day she'd just had and allowed her otherwise impeccable manners to slip somewhat. She grabbed her spoon and nodded her approval of the soup after her first taste, before she spoke again. "What those things were, concerns nobody but me. I might tell you a few of them if it should prove necessary, but only one of them should ever become an issue and you'll find out about it then, not before." she continued as Harry dazedly ate his soup and nibbled on a piece of bread.

"One of the things I was doing earlier do concern you, as I emptied out our joint account by doing a few acquisitions." Narcissa suddenly revealed and Harry blinked in surprise.

"You spent fifty thousand Galleons in one afternoon?" Harry exclaimed in shock.

"Roughly thirty-nine from our mutual account and nearly a hundred thousand from my own personal vault, actually. I spent around eleven thousand Galleons from our joint account on getting this place in shape." she calmly responded and gestured at the apartment. "That isn't the question you should be asking however. So much like Lucius, only caring about how much was spent, not *what* it was spent on." she pointedly commented with a shake of her head.

"All right, *what* did you spend it on?" Harry tersely asked, resenting the implication that he had anything at all in common with Lucius Malfoy.

"All properties and holdings of the Malfoy family other then Malfoy Manor itself, which I left for Draco." Narcissa replied with a faint smile. "Trust me, it was a bargain and worth at least fifty times what I paid for it. When the sun rises and everything has been processed, you'll be married to an even more influential witch then I was when I left earlier today. I took the liberty of signing everything in my name, so that I'll retain possession of them should we ever divorce. Money shouldn't be an issue however. I have some private savings which should last us until the will has been executed and you come into possession of the Black inheritance. I just thought you should know that our joint account is now empty."

"I have others..." Harry mumbled in muted astonishment.

"Excellent, because while I have some savings, I spent almost everything that I have managed to hide away from Lucius over the years." Narcissa commented. "Another thing which concerns you is that I've ensured that Minister Fudge will lend you his full cooperation in the future. Tomorrows Daily Prophet will contain a formal apology from both our esteemed Minister and the publication itself for all the unwarranted slandering of you it has engaged in previously. I also think you'll be pleased to know that Minister Fudge moved up Lucius trial and with the new evidence the Auror Corps got their hands on today thanks to my assistance, he was convicted to the Dementors Kiss, which was carried out earlier today."

"He's... Dead?" Harry asked with horrified shock colouring his entire being. He'd never really liked the man, but to have his own former wife just announce that he was dead without batting an eyelash at it, was a bit too much.

"Indeed. I also provided some additional suggestions and several other Death Eaters are currently being thoroughly investigated, investigations which should prove far more successful then previous ones. I also think the trials will be quite different, as Minister Fudge has approved the use of Veritaserum in them." she continued and smiled. "I dare say that the Dark Lord will soon find himself quite a few hidden supporters short." she added with a feral smirk.

"But... Why? Why are you doing this?" Harry asked.

"My fate is tied to yours now. Instead of getting me into this marriage, you could just as well have put a sign on my back saying 'Dark Lord, aim here.'. I might not be quite as high a priority target as you, but I am a target none the less." she explained and Harry swallowed nervously, another thing he had failed to take into consideration. "As such, I found it only prudent to ensure that sufficient effort is being spent in removing his base of power and erode his support as much as possible. There are a few others I pointed the MLE at, including Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Snape."

"WHAT?!" Harry exclaimed and shot out of his seat, dropping the spoon onto the floor.

"You are far too emotional." Narcissa commented disapprovingly as she looked consideringly at him. "We'll have to see about some Occlumency lessons. Such will help in dealing with that particular issue." she reasoned and nodded to herself. "Anyway, Albus Dumbledore is a Legimens and has employed his gifts in that department ever since I was a student at Hogwarts, possibly even before that. Severus Snape is one too, although not quite as skilled as the Headmaster. Both of them have used their gifts of Legimency in my presence and in Dumbledore's case, on me during my time as a student at Hogwarts, which is an illegal act. Oh, Legimency is the art of reading the minds and thoughts of others."

"I know... It can only be blocked by Occlumency." Harry dazedly replied and Narcissa arched an eyebrow at him.

"I'm actually somewhat impressed at that answer, even if it's not entirely correct. There are a few other ways to block it, the easiest being not looking into the eyes of anyone you know to possess the skill. But I didn't think somebody who still attended Hogwarts ever would have heard of those two skills, to say nothing of what they actually do." Narcissa responded with a note of pleased surprise coloring her voice. "However did you hear of them before I mentioned them?"

"Snape was trying to teach me Occlumency." Harry answered in a fog of astonishment, not even noticing that Dobby had appeared and supplied him with a new spoon, taking the old one back with him into the kitchen.

"Severus teaching a Potter anything, to say nothing of teaching something that requires a tremendous amount of trust between teacher and student? What a load of crock! No wonder you said 'trying'." Narcissa snorted and shook her head. "Anyway, one needs Ministry approval in order to use Legimency legally, which I happen to know that none of them have. At least not approval to use it on minors not suspected for any serious crimes. Dumbledore is such a gifted Legimens that he may be able to get away with it, as the most gifted can't really turn their ability off and are constantly using their ability to passively scan their surroundings and the surface thoughts of those around them. Severus will not be able to use that excuse however, as he still actively have to decide to use his skills in that area. Besides, there always are his other crimes to consider even if he somehow succeeds in getting the Legimency charges dismissed."

"But Dumbledore... Why?" Harry asked. While he carried a fair amount of resentment for the old man around, he just wanted to be free of Dumbledores manipulations of his life. Not have him put in Azkaban like any common criminal.

"Obstacles need to be removed and Dumbledore is an inordinately huge obstacle. If the old man had been a competent warlord, able and fit to guide the 'Light' in the battle against the Dark Lord of our time, things would be different. But he's grown soft in his old age and is now more of a hindrance then an actual asset as a leader. He might yet prove himself as an able advisor and a capable fighter, but as a leader making decisions in these troubled times, he's a joke." Narcissa replied. "Fret not, however. Arrangements have been made to ensure that his punishment is given a stay of execution of sorts until the current situation has been resolved."

Harry pondered what she had said in silence as the two of them finished the soup. Dobby cleaned off the table and as he headed for the kitchen, Winky entered bearing the main course. Steaks with pomes chateau and a creamy truffle sauce, served with a bottle of Australian red wine that Dobby had apparently located in the apartment, one of the bottles Narcissa had purchased to stock the liquor cabinet with.

Harry didn't much care for the wine, but Narcissa insisted on him trying it and showed him some of the tricks of the wine connoisseur trade, which he confusedly tried to follow and memorize as she insisted that it was an important skill to acquire for a man of his standing.

For dessert, a small bowl of ice cream with heated fruits and creatively shaped crackers were served, along with a small glass of port. Harry stared dazedly at the crackers and Narcissa even cracked a smile when she saw them, but refrained from commenting upon them. Harry intended to have words with Dobby and Winky later on however. If any of his friends were ever served crackers shaped like his face, he'd never hear the end of it.

Assuming he had any friends left, that was.

He had expected to catch quite a bit of flak for marrying Narcissa and defying Dumbledore like he had, but things were just growing worse and worse by the hour. He just hoped that he could be granted forgiveness and that Narcissa wouldn't provide any other nasty little surprises along the same lines as getting Dumbledore declared a criminal.

"I acquired your school records while I was at the Ministry and found them to be pitifully inadequate, so we need to discuss your further education." Narcissa suddenly proclaimed and Harry groaned, which she took no noticeable note of. "Hogwarts offers several extra courses for the high society of the Wizarding World. You should consider taking at least a few of those courses. I particularly recommend Dancing, Diplomacy, Heraldry, Law, Finance and Politics."

"Dancing? Politics? *Heraldry*?" Harry protested.

"It is your choice, of course." Narcissa responded. "However, you will be called upon to dance from time to other, you can be certain of that. Unless you enjoy looking like a fool, I'd recommend learning how to do it well. Politics is something that will fill the remainder of your life and has as such tremendous importance. You have to remember that you're a Wizengamot-seated Earl, politics will seek you out every which way you turn and rapidly furthering your knowledge of it is paramount. Equally as important is at least a decent amount of knowledge of legal matters, which is where Law classes come into play. Heraldry is of lesser importance, but a great amount of those in the circles you will frequent pay an inordinate amount of attention to such matters and it would be advisable for you to at least know the basics to avoid making a fool of yourself at some point. Although if you truly object to taking the class, I suppose that I can teach you the basics myself." she explained and popped one of the Harry-crackers into her mouth, thoughtfully chewing on it for a few seconds before she swallowed and continued. "Diplomacy is equally as important as Politics and the importance of a solid Financial education for somebody in control of the sizeable Black estates should be obvious."

"Unless of course, you'd be willing to turn the handling of your estates over to me." Narcissa finished, an offer which caused Harry to blanch and shudder in fear. "I thought not." was all she said, though she smiled as she said it.

"More classes. Why?" Harry sighed and shook his head.

"Our reputations are co-dependent from now on. If you make a fool out of yourself in public, it'll reflect badly upon me. It's therefore in my best interest to ensure that you put on a good show for the public. If you want to be a snivelling little cry-baby in private then that's your prerogative, but if you don't act the part of Earl Potter-Black in public, I will have to take steps to correct that." she revealed and focused her intense gaze at him.

"All right, all right. I'll think about it." Harry responded. She made sense, in an unpleasant sort of way. Loathe as he was to admit it.

"Excellent. I find you quite amusing as you are and my reputation would have taken a significant hit if I'd been forced to have you declared mentally unfit in order to become your guardian and caretaker." Narcissa announced, causing Harry to choke on one of the crackers, coughing and spitting as he tried to regain his composure.

He looked up at her with a horrified expression, his eyes opened so wide that they might have fallen out of their sockets if they hadn't been attached.

"I see you got my point." Narcissa commented with a small smile. "I would be extremely reluctant to arrange for such, as having a mentally infirm husband would reflect badly on me, even if he is the boy-who-lived. But mark my words, the hit my reputation would take for that is preferable to being married to a social nincompoop. You had *better* keep that fact firmly in mind." she icily informed him and Harry swallowed nervously.

"All right." he croaked in a hoarse tone of voice.

"Excellent." Narcissa approved with an almost friendly smile. "See? We're getting along fabulously, aren't we?"

"Yeah..." Harry mumbled dazedly.

* * *

"What?! Dumbledore? Bones? What's going on?" Tonks asked with a stunned expression as she saw Dumbledore in magic restrains being guided into a cell by Horncrow and an Auror she didn't recognize, supervised by none other then Amelia Bones.

"Headmaster Dumbledore has been arrested for various crimes and will remain in our custody until his trial in two days." Amelia replied with a sad and disappointed expression.

"What?!" Tonks repeated, looking in shock between her boss and the most respected wizard in the country.

"Nymphadora. The task that was given to you and Kingsley at our last meeting is of utmost importance, more so now then ever before. I would appreciate if you could stress it to the others and ensure that William is giving his task his full attention, just in case. The goblin Fistfang may be willing to pass on a message, requesting a meeting with the person in question." Dumbledore told Tonks, then walked into his holding cell with a resigned facial expression. "I have yet to receive a response to the request I left, but perhaps he'd consent to meet with you, considering the circumstances." he added before the door was closed by the Auror with Horncrow she didn't quite recognize.

"Madame Bones... Would it be all right for me to take a couple of days off work?" Tonks inquired. "It seems that I have pressing business to attend to." she added with a resigned expression.

"I suppose that would be all right for you to take the rest of the week off after you have finished your current duties. This department has done more good today then it has for a very long time." Amelia replied. "However, upon your return, I'd like to speak with you and Shacklebolt about your involvement in the Headmasters little group of vigilantes and the view I take to my Aurors getting involved in such." she added and Tonks swallowed, offering a terse smile to the older woman.

"Right. Well. All right." she said. "See you then, Madame Bones."

"Have a pleasant vacation, Auror Tonks. I dare say you might need it." Amelia commented and the young Auror shivered as she quickly had her last batch of prisoners incarcerated, hastily scribbled down a report about today's raids and then left to call for yet another emergency meeting for the Order of the Phoenix.

She did not at all look forward to telling the others in the Order that Dumbledore had been arrested.

The End! ( For now... )


	8. Chapter 8

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Chapter Seven:

"Master Harry Potter Sir has a letter from his Tonksie!" Dobby cheerfully announced and Harry sat up in his bed, focusing a bleary-eyed gaze at the excitable house elf bouncing up and down to the left of him. "Good morning, Master Harry Potter Sir!" Dobby greeted him and Harry sighed, then reached out and accepted the envelope from Dobby, who promptly leapt back down onto the floor again.

"Thanks, Dobby." Harry croaked. He felt like shit, not having slept all that much. What little sleep he'd gotten had been in bits and pieces, interrupted or otherwise disturbed by horrible nightmares.

He rubbed his cheek, muttering a few choice phrases about the woman he had the great misfortune of having married.

He'd been abruptly awakened from one of his nightmares by a slap to the cheek and an admonishment to 'Grow up!' by his 'darling' wife, who'd apparently gotten quite tired of his yelling in his sleep and instead of simply casting a silencing charm in her room, stalked into the Master Bedroom to make her feelings on the matter clear.

Very clear.

His cheek still ached a little.

He slumped back against his pillow and let out a tired morose sigh. For a few moments, he nursed a brief mental image of Narcissa instead having pulled him against her, crawling into bed with him and cooing sweet nothings in his ear until he calmed down.

He snorted and banished his freaky impossible fantasy with a shake of his head!

If she had done something like that, it likely would have only been because she wanted something from him that she couldn't get by threats, blackmail or other means of intimidation.

He brought the letter up to his face and wondered just how Tonks had gotten it to reach him. The goblins had been forced to do something to Hedwig, some sort of ritual that would allow her to get past their privacy wards and it apparently took quite a bit of time, so his beloved snowy owl had yet to be returned to him. Gringotts apparently had a handful of owls that had passed the ritual, which allowed them to correspond with those who were protected by similar Goblin Wards, but they had assured him that nobody else would be able to do the same.

The sender was indeed identified as 'his Tonksie' as Dobby had said, or at least as 'N. Tonks'. He wondered if it was some sort of Ministry thing or if she'd sent him this by the way of Gringotts, but didn't dwell upon it for too long. He'd gotten a note through Fistfang from Dumbledore yesterday when he was waiting for Narcissa to return, but he'd ignored the old mans request for a meeting and destroyed the letter, as he had bigger things to worry about at that time.

He sort of regretted that after Narcissa's revelations yesterday evening. It appeared as if he would need all the help he could get to handle Narcissa, even if that help came from Dumbledore.

He shrugged off that morose line of thinking, tore the envelope open and scanned through the letter from a close distance, not seeing all that well without his glasses which he was too tired to roll over and pick up from the bedside table.

"'Harry. I really need to speak with you as soon as possible. I've left a Messaging Stone with the Goblin Fistfang at Gringotts. Please use it as soon as possible and I'll come. Tonks.'. Well, short and to the point." he read out loud and sighed again, throwing the letter and envelope aside.

He threw off the covers and shuffled out of bed, absently slipping the glasses on as he headed for his wardrobe and shrugged into a pair of Dudley's old jeans and still-too-large-for-him t-shirt.

"Need to shop for clothes." Harry mumbled and headed for the bathroom, but stopped outside the door as he heard the shower running and instead walked to the downstairs bathroom where he had his morning pee, before he shuffled into the kitchen where breakfast was already on the table with two fresh copies of the Daily Prophet that seemed to be somewhat thicker then usual.

His hands itched and he nearly grabbed the paper directly, but he forced himself to fill a plate with food and sit down before he did so. He groaned as he unfolded it and saw the headline.

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE  
ARRESTED FOR  
NUMEROUS CRIMES!

"This is going to be another one of those days..." Harry sighed as he opened the paper and started reading.

Now he *really* regretted not meeting up with Dumbledore yesterday.

Not all that long after that, as Harry was deeply engrossed in what the Prophet had to say on Dumbledore's arrest and the crimes he was being accused of, Narcissa strode regally into the kitchen.

"Hrm."

Harry looked up from the paper and sighed as he saw Narcissa standing at the table, glancing pointedly down at the chair she'd apparently decided to claim as hers. He put the paper down and stood up, walking over to hold the chair out for her.

"Very good." she approved as she seated herself. "I'll have a selection of fruits, two toasts with a thin spread of vegemite and a bowl of cereal." she said and Harry simply looked at her for a few moments, before he grabbed her plate and heaped the items in question onto it and grabbed a bowl for the cereal which he put in front of her next to the plate. "Excellent. Thank you." she approved with a small smile and looked up at him. "Good morning, by the way." she greeted him.

"Morning." he responded and headed for his seat with a surly expression. Although infinitly more pleasant then the Dursley's and he was certainly used to doing by far more for way less gratitude, she still managed to annoy him.

"Please do not pout. It's undignified." Narcissa gently reprimanded him and Harry once again entertained a brief fantasy about throttling the infuriating female with his bare hands. She didn't seem to take note of that, instead picking up her copy of the paper and smiling to herself as she read the front page. "There's nothing quite like a bit of good news in the morning, is there?" she asked and Harry simply grunted in response to that as he grabbed his own paper and yanked it up in front of his face.

He had just about started to get back into reading, when he blinked and suddenly lowered the paper again, staring at her in shock as his dazed mind suddenly took note of just *what* she was wearing.

And how she looked in it!

"You approve?" Narcissa smiled and Harry hastily raised the paper up in front of his face again, blushing furiously behind the flimsy wall of protection that the Daily Prophet offered him. That was the flimsiest and most transparent night gown Harry had ever seen!

Not that he'd seen a lot of night gowns.

Okay, not a single one other then when doing the laundry for Aunt Petunia, but none of them had been even remotely like the one worn by Narcissa this morning.

It was light blue, just barely going down to her hips. The transparency was such that he'd been able to tell that she had a small birth mark on the left side of her tummy, that her brassiere was white and frilly at the edges and that she wore high-cut white panties with a rose design.

The image was burned into his mind and no matter what he tried to think of, it kept popping back into his mind and ensured that his cheeks remained at a furious red. His hands trembled slightly as he kept an iron grip on the Daily Prophet, refusing to lower it even for a single second.

Narcissa chuckled in amusement from time to time as she consumed her breakfast in a relaxed manner while reading the paper, sparing the occasional glance across the table to the quivering man she was now wed to.

Before she got her hands on the OoL, she never would have dared to do something like this. While she had been pleased and even, she had to admit, delighted about being married to Harry Potter, she hadn't been at all comfortable around him in spite of that. In the back of her mind she'd been constantly worried about the age difference, how young and inexperienced he was and overshadowing all that, had been the single fact that he was able to control her in a manner more terrifying then Lucius ever had.

Now the shoe was on the other foot. She was the one in control and she greatly enjoyed that.

"You shall have to get used to this and fast at that. We do not have much time left to consummate our marriage." Narcissa informed him as she turned a page in the paper.

"What?!" Harry spluttered and yanked the paper down for a moment, before he hastily raised it again. That flimsy thing had *not* miraculously transformed into a thick robe or something of the sort, much to both his dismay and secret pleasure.

She truly was a beautiful woman, as he had noted on multiple occations before. But what she was currently wearing, certainly made it glaringly obvious and impossible to ignore.

"The customary Ritual is usually preformed by the mother of the bride the morning after the marriage, the mother of the groom if the first is unavailable. Lacking both, Father Creed who preformed the ceremony will be the one to ascertain that it has indeed been consummated and he will do this eight days after the wedding, as it's considered bad luck to see the Priest during the week after the ceremony." she calmly explained. "So you'll have to adapt before that or the marriage will be dissolved when Father Creed performs the ceremony."

"But... But... But..." Harry stuttered.

"You didn't read up on Wizarding marriages before going through with one?" Narcissa asked with a raised eyebrow, a gesture which Harry completely missed as he was still hidden behind his newspaper. "You should have. Unless you've torn through my hymen and our magic cores have formed a Bond when the Ritual is executed, the marriage will be dissolved and it'll be as if it has never taken place."

Harry didn't know what to respond to, being completely overwhelmed by the fact that he'd actually have to... Do... THAT! ... With Narcissa!

So he latched onto the first thing that came to mind.

"Hymen?" he questioned in a faint tone of voice, still lurking behind the Daily Prophet to keep Narcissa out of his sight.

There was no denying that she was attractive as hell in her current attire, but just the thought of her wearing that thing made him nervous. If he'd actually look at her, he'd likely become too nervous to be coherent!

"There's a spell to restore it." Narcissa responded dismissively. "You breaking it, combined with our wedding rings, the wows we've taken and our magical cores reacting during the coupling, will serve to forge a Bond between the two of us."

"What does the Bond do?" Harry almost whimpered, covering behind his flimsy protection as he imagined all sorts of horrible things. He already had a Bond of sorts to Voldemort through his scar, if this was *anything* at all like that Bond, he'd go nuts before a week had passed!

"Now you're being a cry-baby again." Narcissa sighed and shook her head.

"Sorry." Harry responded.

"Whatever. Just don't do it in public. Remember, you will be Earl Potter-Black! You've got an image to uphold!" Narcissa reminded him. "The bond doesn't do much on its own, but it makes it easier for us to use certain spells related to the other person. For instance, even somebody who's barely more then a Squib and otherwise quite incapable, will be able to Scry for a person they're Bonded with even if they're on the other side of the world. Unless they're protected by some sort of Ward or Block, that is. For some spells of an 'intimate' nature, the Bond is a requirement for the spells to work at all in the first place. It is also said that in times of stress and duress, a Bonded couple can call upon the strength of their spouse to pull through a difficult situation. Though that last one has never been proven as actual fact as far as I know. It may simply be that the one being pressured fortifies their own willpower by thinking about their Bondmate and pulls through because of that. Neither me nor Lucius ever noted something of the sort." she explained with a faint shrug.

"But..." Harry whispered in a faint tone of voice, his face quickly draining of colour as he shivered behind the flimsy protection of the Daily Prophet.

"Oh, don't tell me that you're a virgin?" Narcissa exclaimed and was met with complete and utter silence for nearly a full minute.

"Yes, I am." Harry responded in a tone of voice so low that she was just barely able to hear him.

"Merlins beard and Hecates nipples! One would think that you'd at least have used your reputation for some broom-closet dalliances at Hogwarts, if nothing more regular." Narcissa muttered, shaking her head. "Well, then there's a few preparations to make. I'll have Dobby leave some reading materials on your desk for your perusal. You should also ensure that you've masturbated at least twice before we consummate our marriage, as I expect at least a somewhat decent and lasting performance." she firmly instructed him and Harry paled behind his paper wall, wondering if he'd even be able to have an erection *at all* in the future!

Sure, he'd felt stirrings when he realized what Narcissa was wearing. But the clinical and cold way she was talking about consummating their marriage, was making Little Harry feel about as limp as a wet earthworm.

"I knew this was going to be one of those days..." he muttered to himself as he trembled and shivered in his seat.

* * *

"Hey." Harry despondently greeted his favourite female Auror in the whole wide world as she walked into the meeting room Fistfang had told him he could use for a small fee.

Granted, she was also one of the few Aurors of either gender he knew, so that wasn't saying much.

"Wotcher, Harry. Hello, Aunt Narcissa." Tonks greeted the two of them.

"Good morning, Nymphadora." Narcissa responded and Tonks bristled for a moment, before she took a seat opposite the married couple without commenting upon the use of her given name.

"You've read today's Daily Prophet?" Tonks asked and both of them nodded. "Good, then you already know that Dumbledore has been arrested.

"It certainly made my day." Narcissa commented with an almost cheerful expression and a faint smile.

"Well, it completely ruined yesterday evening for me." Tonks groused and shook her head. "I was just going to place the Zabini's into custody when I saw Amelia putting Dumbledore into a holding cell and now everything is falling apart!" she ranted and clenched her fists. "Arthur, Molly, Bill, Charlie and Percy already have or will be questioned. Fred, George, Ron and Ginny most likely will be questioned as well. Snape has been arrested and Amelia has called me and Kingsley to a meeting to discuss if it's appropriate for us to be part of the Order. Mundungus is so nervous about his own participation now that the MLE has taken an interest in the Order that he might be quitting. Moody is more paranoid then ever and I think my hair is turning grey from trying to hold everything and everyone in the Order together."

Indeed, her hair was turning grey even as she spoke about it, but considering her ability, Harry didn't think much of it.

"The Weasleys? Why?" Harry asked with a shocked expression. The Prophet certainly hadn't mentioned anything about that!

"I haven't been able to find out. I found out about it just before the Message reached me and I came here. None of them showed up for yesterdays meeting, but I just figured that they were all busy or otherwise unable to attend." Tonks replied.

"You're the leader now?" Narcissa asked with a raised eyebrow.

"There isn't a leader at the moment, it's just a bunch of people running around like headless chickens. I'm just the one who does the least amount of running, probably because I'm too tired to do so from a lack of sleep." Tonks sighed. "To top it all off, Dumbledore's last requests before he was put in solitary all involved finding you, so during the few short moments when people aren't panicked, they're arguing about how to do that. Dumbledore hinted that Fistfang might be able to put me in contact with you and I'm glad that it did." she admitted and focused an intense, although glazed from a lack of sleep, gaze at Harry.

"We need you Harry, and we don't even know why! Dumbledore seems to think that the sun shines out of your arse for some reason, but he's never told any of us just why that is. But with him missing for now, everybody is focusing on you hoping that you could clear it up for us." Tonks confessed and rubbed the area where she'd been injured at the Ministry, the wound not being quite healed just yet.

"I'm the only one who can beat Voldemort. That was what the Prophecy at the Ministry was all about and Dumbledore knew all about that, as he was the one who heard it in the first place all those years ago." Harry admitted after a few moments of consideration and a worried glance at Narcissa.

He didn't really have much choice but to trust her with this. From the appearance of things, she'd be around for quite a while and short of murder or putting her under the Imperious, he didn't know any way of changing that. She seemed to genuinely want to help him, but he wasn't at all sure about the ways she went about doing that!

"I fear we shall have to discuss your education again." Narcissa commented after a few seconds of stunned silence from the two witches, while Tonks had yet to recover from her shock. She was still staring at Harry with her mouth open in surprise.

"Education?! Fuck me with a chimney sweep!" Tonks exclaimed when she recovered a few seconds later. "You? You're the Chosen One?!"

"So it would seem." Narcissa mused and pursed her lips as she looked closely at Harry with a contemplative expression.

"Well, at least Dumbledores fixation on you makes some sense now. I almost sort of worried that he might have an unhealthy liking for young male children..." Tonks muttered. "Harry, if that's true, then we *really* need you." she pleaded with him.

"Quid pro quo or tit for tat as you might say, niece." Narcissa commented. "I could see myself letting my husband out to play with you and your little merry band of incompetents, but I shall have to be adequately compensated for it."

"What?" Tonks exclaimed.

"Narcissa! This is important." Harry argued.

"All the more reason for not arguing overly much about my going rate then, isn't it?" Narcissa countered with a small smile.

"I know she's my Aunt and all, but are you really sure that you knew what you were doing when you married her?" Tonks whispered to Harry after having leaned forward across the table.

"No." Harry admitted and Tonks nodded as she leaned back and looked at Narcissa with a curious expression.

"All right, Auntie. I'll bite. What's the rent on a bad boy like this?" Tonks asked and jerked her thumb in Harry's direction.

"I want in." Narcissa replied and the other two looked with confused expressions at her.

"Huh? Into what?" Tonks asked.

"The Order. I want in." Narcissa briefly explained. "If he is going to be playing with you guys, I want to be around to supervise your playtime to make sure that you're not endangering my darling hubby in any way with your roughhousing." she declared with a determined expression to underline her otherwise somewhat playful statement.

She'd wound up married to a free ticket to immense power and she certainly wasn't going to let him slip out of her grasp because of Dumbledore's pathetic yes-men or any foolish mistakes they might be making.

* * *

"Get up, you little loser." Bellatrix snarled and Draco jumped up onto his feet, looking in confusion at the unfamiliar witch in front of him. She saw him opening his mouth to ask just who she was, probably also to ask how she dared to address him in such a manner. "Silence, whelp! I'm here to bail you out and I don't have time to listen to your pathetic whimpers." she snapped at him and rather pointedly rubbed her arm, right above where her Dark Mark was. Draco hesitated for a moment and then nodded with a fearful glance at that arm.

She cast a complicated illusion over him, to hide just who he was and that he was wearing prison robes.

"Come along." she ordered and led him away from the holding area and out of the Ministry itself, the two of them passing several unconscious and bleeding Aurors, as well as a few quite obvious corpses. If having their heads cut off or chest blasted open from the inside didn't turn someone into a corpse, Draco certainly didn't want to know what would!

Draco shivered at the sight, while the unfamiliar witch didn't even glance at them.

"Here's your wand." she snarled and pressed the wooden rod into his hands once they'd left the building. She also put away the one she had been using, placing it in a wrist holster next to another wand. One that looked slightly familiar, but that Draco couldn't quite place even if he was reasonably sure that he'd seen it before at some point.

"Thank you." Draco reluctantly responded and looked around as she led him towards an out of the way alley they could Portkey away from. "Where are..." he started to ask, only to be cut off.

"We're going to see your Master, nephew." Bellatrix responded and Draco blanched as he realized that the unknown woman was his psychotic aunt in some sort of disguise! "There's work to be done." she growled angrily, then suddenly spun around and stared him down. "Have you spoken with your mother about what she's done?!" she suddenly demanded to know and Draco took three steps backwards in fear, as those demented eyes focused fully on him.

"Mother? What? No. I haven't seen her since before..." he responded and nodded towards the Ministry of Magic. "I suppose she's in hiding or something."

"Oh, how delightful. I am the one to tell you? You mean, you don't know what she's done?" Bellatrix asked, suddenly in a somewhat better mood at the prospect of some delightful amusement, even if what had been going on still made her feel like slaughtering every other living being she laid her eyes on.

"What? What has she done?" Draco asked and after a moment added. "She's all right, isn't she?"

"Worried about your widdle mommy, Draco?" Bellatrix taunted him as the two of them stepped into the alley she'd picked out earlier. "Grab this." she told him and trust an old worn shoe at him. He obediently did as she ordered and was then whisked away with her as she struck it with her wand, putting a great deal of force behind what usually was usually accomplished with a simple tap.

Draco grunted and swallowed as they arrived, forcing the contents of his stomach to remain contents instead of being spilled all over the floor. Portkeys were not his preferred mode of travel, but he'd learnt to endure it over the years.

"She's all right." Bellatrix admitted and let the shoe drop onto the floor of the dirty and run-down building they'd appeared into. "Physically anyway, though I'm seriously dubious about her current mental state." she added and Draco strained to keep his mouth from letting out some comment that she of all people wasn't in any real position to assess the mental state of others. "She has divorced your father and married the ruddy boy-who-lived instead." she snorted in disgust.

"*SHE WHAT*?!" Draco bellowed, then his eyes narrowed and he calmed down significantly, realizing that Bellatrix was simply pulling his leg. "You liar." he snorted and shook his head. "You nearly had me there for a while."

"Here." she said and tossed him a copy of the Daily Prophets special Harry Potter wedding issue. "See for yourself." she advised, but didn't stop leading him further into the building.

Draco unfolded the paper and blinked at the headline. /Potty got married? That much may be true, but there's just... No... Way... Mom?/ Draco thought and opened the paper, his train of through being tossed off the mental tracks as he saw the full-page advert on page three, which featured a picture of his mother standing at Potters side. He quickly scanned through the text which announced their marriage, then quickly browsed through the rest of the paper, skimming through the text.

"What the... Mother? Mother and Potty? She *married* that no-good-twerp?!" Draco exclaimed in outrage as realization struck and that Bellatrix wasn't pulling his leg after all. "But... How... Why... When..." he stuttered, then blinked as he read the date on their full-page advert. "But... I spoke to her at breakfast two days ago! She said nothing of this!" he protested and then growled. "I'll *kill* Potter for this crap!" he snarled.

"Get in line!" Bellatrix snorted. "And wise up, you're about to meet the Dark Lord." she added as an afterthought. "He's mightily upset at the moment, what with his Death Eaters being arrested, your father being executed and all that." she continued and glanced aside at Draco, smiling as he took in what she'd said.

"WHAT?!" Draco screamed in utter shock and a fair amount of fear.

"Your father's trial was pushed up and he was executed yesterday afternoon by a Dementors Kiss." she explained with a certain amount of satisfaction at how this piece of news affected Draco.

Related or not, the suffering of others was always a glorious thing to behold.

She was smirking as she led a shell-shocked Draco Malfoy into the room where the Dark Lord held court, kicking the back of his legs to make him kneel, before she herself got down onto her knees in a more graceful manner.

"My lord, I have brought Lucius spawn, as you commanded." she respectfully announced and shivered as she felt the Dark Lords gaze swivel over her for a moment, before it settled on Draco and the nervous feeling passed.

"The time has come, young Malfoy. Will you serve me, as your father did before you?" Lord Voldemort drawled in a studiously relaxed tone of voice, slowly dragging the point of his wand back and forth across the palm of his left hand. "Will you take my Mark?"

"I will join you and proudly wear your Mark, my Lord." Draco announced and much to his own astonishment, managed to keep his voice clear, firm and free of stuttering in fear of the immensely powerful being he was kneeling before.

"Approach me then, boy." Lord Voldemort commanded and Draco forced his legs not to wobble with a great effort of will as he stood up and approached his new snake-like Master.

Bella ignored what was happening before her eyes and restrained the impulse to curse out loud that had been nagging insistently at her ever since she found out about the marriage. It was true that she had been in a foul mood ever since the Ministry fiasco and that Potters name had often departed from her lips accompanied by some of the vilest curses imaginable. She had sworn to mutilate, torture and kill him several hundred times since that whole debacle.

But after she found out that he'd married Narcissa...

Maiming, torture and murder wasn't enough, not any longer.

No, she had different plans for Potter now. It likely would take a great deal of effort and some seriously powerful Imperious curses, but she was reasonably certain that she could get him to create a Horcrux even against his will. Then she could devote the rest of her life to killing him in as horrible ways as possible, resurrect him and then start all over again.

The creepy smile that suddenly adorned her lips had for once nothing at all to do with the fact that somebody was squealing in immense pain as the Dark Lord applied the beginnings of his Mark upon them.

Well...

Very little to do with it, anyway.

She'd never really liked Draco anyway and seeing him suffer like this was even better then watching some nobody feeling as if they were being slowly dragged naked across a huge field littered with broken glass, only to have salt rubbed into their wounds and then be pulled back across the field again.

But her smile was mostly due to all the horrible fates she intended for Potter to suffer through once she got her hands on him.

* * *

"Let you into the Order?" Tonks asked with a baffled expression as Harry stewed in silence at how Narcissa had formulated her explanation, making him sound like some unruly kid of sorts. "I can't do that. That's for Dumbl..." she started to protest, only to trail off as she realized that Dumbledore wasn't in any position to approve or decline anybody membership in the Order at the moment.

"If you're the most level-headed of the bunch at the moment, they will eventually follow your lead. Even confused sheep will respond if the sheep dog runs up and barks at them." Narcissa countered.

"B-but I can't decide something like that! One of the older members, perhaps. McGonagall, Flitwick or Moody, but not me." Tonks argued.

"Professors McGonagall and Flitwick will have their hands full with Hogwarts, now when the Headmaster is unavailable and likely won't be returning there either. The Governors will have a meeting about the Headmaster issue in no less then two hours, in fact." the older woman calmly responded after a glance at an old grandfather clock up against one of the walls of the meeting room. "And if former Auror Alastor Moody is a part of your little Order, I'm guessing that he's currently too busy chasing shadows and outside threats to much care about what happens on the inside."

Tonks didn't respond out loud, but her silence was telling, as was her contemplative expression.

McGonagall hadn't even showed up for the emergency meeting and Flitwick spent most of it just staring dazedly ahead, not really involving himself in any of the discussions unless somebody asked him a direct question. Moody had shown up half-way through it, announcing that he'd been at the Headmasters office and interrogated the paintings. He'd hung around for a quarter of an hour, then announced that he had better things to do then sit around listening to 'children bicker' and left again, intending to scour Knockturn Alley for news.

Tonks was grateful that she currently had time off, as she wouldn't want to be one of the Aurors having to chase down Moody in case he got out of hand in his search for news.

"I'll bring it up, but I don't think it'll go over well with the others." Tonks responded after some consideration.

"Well, if you don't have the abilities to arrange for such, there is one other thing you could be of use for." Narcissa offered and Tonks suddenly looked wary, showing that she had excellent instincts.

"Do I even want to know?" Tonks mumbled somewhat apprehensively under her breath, then nodded for Narcissa to continue.

"With both our mothers dead, Father Creed will perform the Ritual to ascertain that a Bond has been established between the two of us." Narcissa revealed with a nod towards Harry. "My 'dear' husband is feeling apprehensive and has no prior experience in intimate matters, so he has yet to perform his husbandly duties and consummated the marriage. There are a couple of days left until such becomes a concern, indeed it can be put off until the night before Father Creed performs the Ritual without any problems. So it seems to me that this would be a most excellent time for Harry to gain some experience in matters intimate, so that he won't make too large a fool out of himself when we form our Bond."

/Perhaps all those rumours about Azkaban are quite exaggerated... It may very well be a pleasant place to spend a few years in and even if it isn't, might it not be *worth* it?/ Harry mused as his gaze swivelled around and settled at Narcissa's neck. His hands rose from his lap of their own and headed in that direction for a split second, before Harry pulled them back.

But if looks had been able to kill, the one he directed at Narcissa now would have been the equivalent of being Portkeyed into the center of the sun.

Tonks slowly closed her mouth which had opened somewhere around 'no prior experience in intimate matters' and stuttered nonsensical and incomprehensible words for a few seconds, until she appeared to recover.

Somewhat.

"WHAT?!" she shouted and burst out of her seat, staring woodenly at Narcissa. "Y-y-y-y-y-y-you a-are a-a-as-as-a-asking... H-h-h-h-h-him... Me?!" she stuttered in a shrill tone of voice.

"I don't much care how you go about actually getting him experienced in these matters, as long as it's discreet and leaves him free of any ailments or diseases." Narcissa calmly responded. "Have a go at him yourself, dump him at a brothel and keep watch to ensure that he isn't seen or use the Imperious on some random Muggle girl and have her do it." she suggested as Harry absently decided that a pale white complexion didn't really suit Tonks and that it was somewhat interesting how exaggerated physical responses were when the one experiencing them was a Metamorph.

The state of shock he was in due to Narcissa's revelations was an odd one, he absently decided.

He'd been shocked before, but usually in violent or dangerous situations. He'd experienced brief moments of calmness just like these, even in the midst of battle. But they were usually extremely brief and interspersed with long periods of extreme fear that he only managed to deal with because the alternative to dealing with it would have been the end of him.

Now, there was nobody trying to hex him or otherwise end his existence, so he was merely silently observing matters in a distracted way.

He did glance at Narcissa's neck from time to time however, which somewhat surprised him even in his daze.

He had no idea just where this intense fascination with strangling had come from, as he'd never really considered doing something like that before marrying Narcissa.

Whenever he had been angry enough to want somebody dead in the past, strangling hadn't been one of the options he'd considered using. Hexes, yes. Curses, yes. Even his fists a couple of times. He'd certainly imagined gutting Dudley with one of his own knifes from time to time and many were the times he'd contemplated pushing Vernon down the stairs or running him over with his own car.

But strangling? No.

/Perhaps it has something to do with her neck?/ he mused as his gaze settled upon it again.

It really was a work of art, he decided. Slender, tall and with her perfect pale complexion, it was one of the more attractive parts of her body. Not that there really were any places on her body that wasn't attractive. Not even the birth mark he'd noticed this morning detracted from her beauty, it merely accentuated it and perhaps even enhanced it.

It was true that she was twenty-five years older then he was and he didn't doubt for a second that she used various magical and chemical means to cover up signs of her aging, even if that was a slower and more drawn-out process then if she had been a Muggle, but she truly was gorgeous and he did find her attractive.

Physically, anyway.

He didn't recall where he'd first heard it, but 'it is what is inside that counts' had never seemed more appropriate a statement then right now.

Narcissa was not the most beautiful female he'd ever seen, though she did make it onto his Top Ten List.

But knowing her as he did now, he found the notion of strangling her more attractive then the notion of having sex with her.

Even in spite of him being a hormonal teenager, homicide was a more attractive notion then intercourse.

"I think I'm going to throw up." Tonks suddenly announced and broke Harry's silent murderous obsession over Narcissa's neck, his gaze slowly swivelling around towards the female Auror instead. "Are you even aware of what you're saying?" she demanded with an incredulous look directed at Narcissa.

"I think you'll find that I'm always well aware of what I'm saying. My husband is an inexperienced virgin. When we consummate our marriage, I want it to be a pleasurable experience for me." Narcissa responded in a tone of voice that seemed more appropriate to discussing what was on the telly last evening then arranging for her husbands devirginization. "Of course, instead of handling that matter by providing him with some badly needed experience, you could simply make a better effort at getting me into the Order of the Phoenix." she added.

"I'll take care of it." Tonks announced with a determined expression and stood up, heading for the door where she paused and looked back at Harry. "See you around, Harry. Good luck, I dare say you might need it."

/No?! You think?!/ Harry sarcastically thought.

"See you around, Tonks." was all he said, however.

"I'll contact you guys when I have a response from the Order." Tonks announced.

"Farewell, niece." Narcissa said with a pleased smile.

"I'll have Fistfang arrange to have you keyed into the Wards." Harry added and Narcissa's eyebrows twitched, though she kept her peace about it.

"Rightly good of you, Harry. See you guys around." she said, then walked out of the door.

The married couple were both silent for several seconds, before Harry finally spoke up.

"I hate you. I really, really, hate you." he simply announced.

"Oh, is that so? I, on the other hand, find you astonishingly amusing and view you with a certain amount of fondness." Narcissa countered with a faint hint of a smile. "In many areas, you're certainly an improvement over my previous husband even if there are some rough edges that require a fair bit of polish."

/An improvement over Lucius? Like that's a compliment?!/ Harry mentally groused as the two of them stood up and left the meeting room.

The End! ( For now... )


	9. Chapter 9

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Chapter Eight:

"Hello, Aunt Narcissa." Tonks greeted the woman in question as she Apparated into the living room with a faint pop.

Narcissa looked up from the book she was reading and nodded at her niece.

"Nymphadora." she greeted her niece from her seat in the reading corner and delicately placed a bookmark in the shape of a dancing couple into the book before she closed it and put it down on the table. "What can I do for you?" she inquired with a polite expression, though she was seething inside the privacy of her own mind. While she had at first resented Harry for getting such a small home for the two of them, she had taken a liking to the place as she decorated it and turned it from a barren wasteland to a pleasant oasis.

An oasis which Nymphadora had now been granted unrestricted access to, from the looks of things.

Having a trusting whiny cry-baby like Potter around was but a minor annoyment and the perks of being married to him more then compensated for his occasional immature behaviour and those blasted nightmares he appeared to suffer from.

The worst part of that was that she couldn't use or even have any major contact with magic during the night, as that would negatively affect some of the cosmetic charms she cast every morning and creams she applied before going to sleep, so even something as minor as casting a Silencing Charm was out of the question. Shielding her bedroom from the magical fields emitted by the Goblin Wards around the apartment had cost nearly two thousand of the eleven thousand Galleons she spent in getting the apartment to her liking.

Had Narcissa been more knowledgeable about Muggles and their ways, she could have used ear plugs, but as she had no idea that such things existed, all she could use to block out the sounds of Potters sobbing, crying and screaming was her hands and pillow, none of which worked very well.

She did sort of regret slapping him, but she'd finally grown so tired of having her sleep disturbed by his pathetic behaviour that she'd taken action without really thinking it over first.

"A firewhiskey would be nice." Tonks replied and slumped down into the couch with a tired groan.

"Of course." Narcissa responded and sedately poured her niece a glass of firewhiskey on her own instead of calling for one of the elves, taking the opportunity to refill her own glass of wine from the remains of the bottle of Australian red she and Harry had been drinking from at supper. "Here you go." she said as she handed Tonks her glass, then seated herself at the end of the couch.

"Thanks." Tonks responded and took a hearty gulp from her drink, letting out a puff of smoke from her mouth and then sipped from her drink again.

"I'm assuming you've spoken with the Order?" Narcissa inquired.

"I have." Tonks agreed with a wry expression. "There were quite a bit of arguments against you joining, but the news that Harry is the only one who can defeat you-know-who was seen as important enough to ignore them. There are a few conditions, however."

"Oh?" Narcissa commented as one of her eyebrows reached for the skies. She took a small sip from her wine. "Such as?"

"A Magical Oath that you'll be loyal to the Order and Moody wants to ask you a couple of questions under Veritaserum." Tonks replied.

"The Oath is out of the question in that form. I would be willing to swear one to be loyal to my husband, but not to the Order. Give me a list of the questions and give me an Oath in return that only those questions I approve of will be asked while I'm affected by the Veritaserum and I will agree to that." Narcissa countered.

"I'll consider it." Tonks agreed with a faint nod.

"'You'?" Narcissa commented and offered a faint smile. "You've realized that as you were the first to take charge, the others now automatically defer to you?"

"Yeah... When I returned after meeting with you guys, I got a few looks that made me wonder if Dumbledore wasn't standing behind my back or I'd accidentally morphed myself to look like him." Tonks responded and shook her head.

"It will pass. Once things have settled a bit, your leadership will likely be challenged by the ambitious amongst you. But as long as confusion reigns, they'll follow your lead." Narcissa advised. "At that time, you will have to decide if you wish to keep on being a leader and fight for your position, or step down and support another candidate."

"Oh, I'll step down. No doubt about it. I'm not cut out for this kind of shit." Tonks groused.

"We shall have to see. Many who get a taste of leadership are reluctant to give it up." her aunt responded and sipped from her wine again.

"It's nice to have a talk with you without Lucius present." Tonks suddenly admitted, completely changing the subject.

"Likewise." Narcissa agreed and looked somewhat longingly at Tonks. "How has your mother been?" she asked with a faintly wistful expression.

"Well enough, I suppose. Things settled down some after the war and without that old bint Walburga throwing her weight around, she was finally able to get a job in the Wizarding World. Pops too." Tonks replied.

"I saw him a couple of years ago. He works at the Ministry, doesn't he? Something in Magical Transportation?" Narcissa asked.

"Yeah. He's a desk jockey there and does the occasional Apparition Exam." Tonks answered.

"And your mother?" Narcissa asked.

"She's an editor. Most of the newly published magical books have been edited by her." she responded and Narcissa nodded. "There's nothing to prevent you from seeing her now, you know?" she hinted. "She doesn't talk about you two often, but I think she does miss her sisters."

"I guess you're right." Narcissa agreed with a sigh. While she'd never agreed with Andromeda's decision to simply abandon her prior obligations in order to marry that Muggleborn slob she'd wound up with, she'd never really had anything against Andromeda herself. But while she was still a Black, it had been out of the question to meet or even speak over the Floo with a traitor to the family. When she became a Malfoy, it had been likewise out of the question to have any contact with a blood traitor like Andromeda.

But like her niece had just reminded her, things were different now.

As long as she wasn't openly seeing her, there was nothing really preventing her from finally speaking and perhaps even meeting with her sister again. Being seen with her in public had both advantages and disadvantages, so before making any such radical moves, she'd have to carefully consider what she could benefit from most. But if it was done discreetly, nothing prevented her from a little sisterly reunion any longer.

"I think I will speak with her." Narcissa decided out loud. "I've missed her too." she admitted and allowed herself to display a faintly wistful expression, before a notion struck her and she looked consideringly at Tonks. "Has she kept up with her duelling skills?"

"Like you wouldn't believe. I still can't get past her defences, no matter how hard I try." Tonks snorted.

"And your father?" Narcissa asked.

"I was hit by one of his Bludgeoning spells shortly after I graduated from Auror School. Every Healer I've ever seen since has tried to do something about it, but unless I morph it, there's still a mark from it." the younger woman ruefully admitted.

"If they and you are willing, I believe Harry might have job offerings for all three of you." Narcissa mused with a contemplative expression.

"Job offerings?" Tonks blurted out with a look of utter confusion.

"I haven't spoken with him yet about just what exactly the Prophecy entails, but if he's the only one who can defeat you-know-who, he'll likely find himself in the frontlines of the upcoming struggle against the Dark Lord. I should very much like for him to pull through it all still in one piece. If your mother could improve his defensive abilities, you father teach him offensive magic and you provide him with skills otherwise restricted to Aurors, he'd be more likely to survive." Narcissa explained and leaned back, taking another sip from her wine. "I can teach him the basic and intermediate skills he's currently lacking, but the three of you are far more skilled then me in your respective specialities." she admitted.

"Look, Aunt Narcissa. Why are you doing all of this? Why marry Harry Potter of all people?" Tonks asked and Narcissa contemplated her young niece for a few moments.

"Do you swear not to tell anyone?" Narcissa asked and Tonks squirmed in her seat for a few moments.

"Unless what you tell me becomes necessary to reveal for Harry's safety, I swear on my magic not to tell anyone what you're about to reveal to me. So mote it be." Tonks said in an unusually serious manner.

"So mote it be." Narcissa agreed after a few moments and cleared her throat before she started talking again. "He used my Oath of Loyalty to compel me to marry him." she revealed and Tonks gasped in shock. "He desired freedom from the old coot's manipulations and due to his inexperience I surmise that the only way he came up with to achieve that was marriage. For some reason, likely through some action of Sirius, he came into possession of that particular document and used it somewhat successfully to compel my obedience. Through his foolish and naive actions, such is no longer the case and I am once again a free woman. I must admit that this little marriage of ours is not entirely to my liking, mostly due to Potters occasional outbursts of childishness. But the advantages it holds are far too large for me to ignore, so I am still going along with it and doing my utmost to ensure that it will be a lasting one even without Potters haphazard attempts at manipulative mind control."

"What was that moron thinking?!" Tonks exclaimed, shaking her head in dismay. Oaths of Loyalty were one of the larger grey zones of Magical Legislation out there and as such, were used only sparingly. Due to the targets willing participation, it was basically a free-for-all Imperious that anyone capable of writing could use against them for all eternity, or at least for as long as the document remained intact. After they were first signed, they were usually kept locked up in a family vault at Gringotts or some untold location that only the family head was aware of.

The dangers of them had been made pretty much apparent in 1864, when the Morton family had been forced to leave their home during the American civil war and a Squib had gotten his hands on Lady Jane Mortons Oath of Loyalty as the Morton manse was plundered. Until then, it had always been assumed that one needed an active magical core to use an Oath of Loyalty.

Such was not the case.

After some frenzied experimentation in the years that followed after that whole Morton mess, it quickly became apparent that anyone, magical or not, human or not, could use and abuse the Oath of Loyalty. As far as she knew, there was still two full-time research seats in the Department of Mysteries that were devoted exclusively to trying to figure out a more secure Oath of Loyalty.

"I surmise that his Muggle upbringing and the relatively short time he's spent in the Wizarding World has been woefully incapable to adequately prepare him for living in our world. He's dreadfully ignorant of the inner workings of the Wizarding World. I am in the process of amending that, but it is likely a long-term project, considering that nobody seemed to have bothered with it in the past. He was for instance not aware of the consummation requirement inherent in Wizarding Marriages until I told him about it. Likely, he imagined marriage to me would simply involve living together for the sake of appearances and then he would have divorced me when he became of age. He might very well still try to do that as I doubt that I was what he had in mind when he imagined his future wife. But if he does try, I will be fighting him every step of the way and do my utmost to prevent him from succeeding." Narcissa said.

"Why are you telling me all this extra stuff?" Tonks whispered.

"Because it amuses me to have you aware of everything, yet be unable to tell anyone. At the moment, there's *nobody* more interested in his safety and victory over the Dark Lord then I am. As his wife, I'm just as big a target as Potter is, if not even bigger. So I'll stand by his side and guard his back to the very end and to the utmost of my abilities. So you telling somebody about this might actually be detrimental to his safety, as it could jeopardize our marriage and the assistance I'd otherwise grant him." Narcissa stated with a pleased smile.

"He's young enough to be your son." Tonks accused her Aunt.

"Indeed. I had some issues with that too in the beginning, but I've changed my mind since then." Narcissa admitted with a faint smile, secretly pondering just how she quite literally 'changed her mind' by using the Oath of Loyalty to do so. She had been dreadfully uncomfortable around Harry, which was a very odd feeling as she was also feeling quite happy about the marriage itself.

But after she had arranged so that she saw nothing wrong with having a husband so much younger then she was, she now felt quite comfortable around him. Comfortable enough to indulge in some sexual teasing and even somewhat look forward to some further teasing. Before, she never would have dared to wear what she went to breakfast in earlier this morning. Before, she had been feeling horribly intimidated by the prospect of consummating the marriage with such a young husband. But it now felt like just another minor chore that had to be done, instead of something dreadful lurking in the near future.

In fact, she was sort of looking forward to it. Lucius had been an adequate lover, but even when they first did get married, passionate was not one of the words she would have used to describe him. Potter might be young and inexperienced, but she was fairly certain that with a bit of training and experience, he'd be a much more satisfying lover then Lucius ever had been.

"If you hurt him..." Tonks warned with a threatening tone of voice.

"Now why ever would I do that for?" Narcissa asked with a shake of her head. "Like I said earlier, I'll do my utmost to support him."

"Where is he, by the way?" Tonks asked and looked around.

"He took the Knight Bus and went to see that Muggleborn friend of his, that Granger girl." Narcissa replied.

"Oh... That ought to be an interesting encounter." Tonks commented with a faint smile.

"From what I've heard of her, quite." Narcissa agreed with a tiny smile. She had contemplated going along with him, but figured that he had earned a bit of freedom. Besides, the chances of that bumbling fool managing to arrange some sort of catastrophic upset in their current relationship and power structure were likely as close to zero as they could get, so she had instead elected to spend a peaceful evening at home.

* * *

+Knock+ +Knock+ +Knock+

Harry squirmed and nervously looked around the area, row upon row of fair-sized houses. It reminded him a great deal of Privet Drive and for a few moments, he wondered what it would have been like to grow up in this area instead. While similar to Privet Drive, the area seemed more individualistic then the almost uniformly coherent Privet Drive, which made it more pleasant to his mind. He had been greeted by various people as he walked through the area and the general mood of the neighbourhood also seemed more pleasant then what he was used to.

Would he and Hermione have been friends as children if he had lived here or would Dudley have scared her off, as he had done to so many others?

"Yes?" Hermione asked questioningly as she opened the door and Harry turned around to face her with a somewhat sheepish expression on his face. "Harry!" she exclaimed in shock and Harry nodded.

"Hello, Hermione." he greeted her. "How's your summer been?" he asked, not quite knowing what to say, so he asked the first thing that came to mind.

"How's my... Harry!" she started, shook her head and took a deep breath. "How's my summer? How's yours, Harry?! Leaving Privet Drive and getting married to Narcissa Malfoy of all people? Are you all right? Have you been controlled in any way? And if not, have you taken leave of all your senses? Do you have any idea just how much trouble you're in? Have you heard what happened to Headmaster Dumbledore? Did you know that the Aurors caught Professor Snape? I heard the older Weasley's are in some sort of trouble as well, do you know what's going on with that?" she ranted, peppering him with questions without taking a single break to breathe between any of them.

"It's good to see you too, Hermione. Can I come in?" he asked and nodded at the doorway.

"Oh, of course. Come on in." she said and stepped out of the way, gesturing for him to enter. "But seriously, what's up with you and this whole marriage nonsense?" she demanded to know as she guided him into the living room, taking a seat at the end of a plushy white sofa and gesturing for him to take a seat as well.

"It was one of my less bright and least well thought out ideas." Harry sighed with a shake of his head as he seated himself. "But I wasn't controlled in any way, shape or manner. It was my decision from start to finish, the only way I could come up with to win my freedom and get away from the Dursley hellhole." he explained. "Since I married an adult woman, I could get Emancipated in both Muggle and Wizarding society."

"But Malfoys mother?! Why her?" Hermione asked.

"Have you ever heard of something called an 'Oath of Loyalty', Hermione?" Harry asked after a few moments.

"Can't say that I have." she reluctantly admitted after a few seconds to ponder his question. If it was one thing she really loathed, it was having to confess to being ignorant about something. "What is an Oath of Loyalty?" she curiously asked, eager to correct her earlier ignorance.

"It's a magically binding contract, used by some of the older families to ensure that those that leave the family due to marriage doesn't turn against their family at some later point. It works like a sort of permanent Imperious, ensuring the complete and utter loyalty of the one bound by it." Harry revealed and Hermione nodded with a distasteful expression. "Sirius left me a letter that I got when I came back to Privet Drive and he included Narcissa's Oath of Loyalty with it. He wanted me to use it to prevent Voldemort through Lucius Malfoy from getting control over the Black inheritance."

Harry took a deep breath.

"I'm not proud of what I did, but I didn't only use it to do that. Sirius had asked a lawyer from Gringotts to come see me and arrange for Narcissa to be divorced from Lucius, one of the things he said made me realize that I could become Emancipated if I had an adult wife." he continued and looked uncomfortable for a few moments. "I used the Oath to force Narcissa to marry me so that I could get Emancipated." he finally confessed.

"Harry, that's horrible! How could you?!" Hermione shrieked. "Do you realize what you've done? You could wind up in Azkaban for this!"

"Actually not, as it turns out. I spoke with Fistfang, he's the lawyer I talked about, before coming here. While the Imperious is one of the Unforgivables, using an Oath of Loyalty is perfectly legal as long as it's not used to get the one being controlled to do some sort of crime. It's apparently got something to do with the fact that the one bound by the Oath has to agree to sign it of their own free will." Harry replied. "So I won't be in trouble with the law for what I did, even if it was a disgusting thing to do."

"Damn straight it is!" Hermione ranted and Harry blinked at the unexpected curse. "It's awful! Horrible! Despicable! It's like raping her! Heck, it *is* raping her!" she gasped and shied away from him.

"I didn't know that Wizarding marriages had to be consummated and that there was somebody checking it to make sure that they had." Harry admitted. "I figured that we'd just live together for the sake of appearances until I became of age, then we'd divorce each other."

"Oh, Harry. When will you ever learn to check the depth before diving headfirst into the water?" Hermione sighed with a disappointed expression.

"We haven't, by the way." he added.

"Haven't what?" Hermione asked.

"Uh... Not... Eh... Consummated..." Harry mumbled with an acutely embarrassed expression.

"Oh." Hermione responded with a faint blush, looking away from him.

"And I made something of a mistake with the Oath. She got her hands on it and removed everything I'd used it for." Harry sighed. "Then she destroyed it."

"Oh. So you're not married anymore?" Hermione asked with a somewhat relieved expression.

"No. Still married." Harry sighed and flashed his engagement and wedding rings. "She's gung-ho about staying married to me and doesn't want to divorce me. Ever!" he moaned. "I don't know what to do, Hermione. This was just supposed to be a sham until I became of age, but now I have to... Hrm... Consummate..."

"Then don't. Your marriage will be over and all your problems solved." Hermione shrugged.

"I don't think Narcissa will go for that and I'm sure that I won't like whatever she does to ensure that... Consummation... Does occur." he sighed. "Besides, I can't divorce her yet. Not until I become of age. I *will* not be controlled and manipulated again." he declared with a firm expression. /Well, other then by my wife, it seems.../ he added mentally and directed a pleading expression at Hermione. "You're my last hope, Hermione. Can you think of any way to fake the Bond between a married couple?" he pleaded.

"You could become Bonded to somebody else, which'll show you as having a Bond. Narcissa likely has one to Lucius already, even if it's probably fading away now that he's dead. But the Ritual will check if the two of you are Bonded to each other. It may be possible to create a Bond in some other way or transfer existing Bonds to other people, but I don't know how." she explained and Harry groaned with disappointment.

That was not what he wanted to hear.

"I'm sorry. I'll look and see what I can find, but I don't think there's a way to fool the Ritual. But I'll check and see if it's possible to establish the Bond in some other way." Hermione promised.

"Thank you, Hermione. You're the best." Harry gushed gratefully.

"Well..." Hermione murmured and cleared her throat before changing the subject. "Did you hear what happened to Dumbledore?" she asked.

"Yeah, Narcissa happened." Harry sighed and shook his head. "Apparently it's illegal to use Legimency on children and Dumbledore has been doing it ever since Narcissa went to Hogwarts. Perhaps even before that, though there's no evidence of it yet, so she reported him to the MLE."

"What?! It was Narcissa who turned him in?" Hermione exclaimed, then shuddered.

"Apparently." Harry agreed with a shake of his head.

"But that's... I mean, what he did was very bad, using Legimency on students and all that. But he could go to Azkaban for it! Without him, V-Voldemort will win." Hermione declared. "How are we supposed to fight him off without Dumbledore? It's unthinkable."

"I just don't know. Narcissa tells me not to worry and that things will work out for the best, but I don't know how that can be. I think she'll pull some sort of stunt at the trial, but she won't tell me what she's got planned." Harry admitted and shook his head again.

"You talk with each other?" Hermione asked with a certain amount of surprise. "What's she like?" she curiously inquired.

"Calculating. Somewhat distant and extremely polite, but completely relentless in spite of her polite speech. She's smart as a whip and almost as much of a know-it-all as you are." Harry revealed with a little smile at the end, observing how Hermione bristled at that little dig at her. "If what she said didn't have a tendency to upset me, I might actually enjoy speaking with her. We had a little talk before I went to Gringotts and another before I came here which was almost... Nice. Nice and surprisingly normal." he admitted after a few seconds consideration. "Had everything gone according to plan, sharing an apartment with her might not have been so bad." he finished.

"What are you going to do?" she asked him.

"Hopefully, you'll find something which can solve that whole Bonded thing. I'll go to school as usual and when it's time to go home for the summer, I'll go to the apartment instead of Privet Drive. Then when I become of age, I'll hand in the divorce papers. I already arranged for them with Fistfang today after Narcissa left. He'll hold on to them until I come of age, then he'll turn them in for me." Harry replied.

"What about the Weasley's? Was that Narcissa's doing too?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. She turned them in for not reporting that Snape and Dumbledore were using Legimency on minors and for not notifying the proper authorities about how bad things were for me at the Dursley's. They're suspected for being accomplishes in the abuse of a minor now." Harry replied and Hermione paled. "She hasn't reported your parents, probably because she sees them as 'just Muggles'. I'm not sure what she's up to, but for some reason she wanted Dumbledore and the Weasley's out of the way for a while."

"Was she behind those other things as well? All those raids, Lucius execution and Professor Snape's arrest?" she asked.

"Yes. If it wasn't for the fact that she went after the Order as well and caused almost more confusion there then for the Death Eaters, things would be looking up." Harry responded and shook his head. "I just don't understand her. She struck hard against the Death Eaters, but she also got Dumbledore arrested. She ensured that Lucius was convicted, but she set the MLE onto the Weasley's. She got me an official apology from Minister Fudge, but turned in Snape as well. I just don't know what to think or do about her. It's like trying to stay on your feet in an avalanche, fighting against the inevitable without a chance of succeeding." he sighed despondently.

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Hermione asked. "Isn't there some sort of obedience clause or something in your wedding contract?" she asked after a few moments of consideration and with a great deal of reluctance. Unlike Harry, she had read up on Wizarding marriages and there were quite a few things she had learned that utterly disgusted her, one of them was such clauses.

"I didn't think I'd ever need one, so no." Harry responded with a shrug. "Fistfang did suggest one, but I asked him to leave it out."

"Well, it might be inconvenient now, but you did the right thing." Hermione commented and Harry wisely refrained from responding that the only reason he'd left it out, was that he had the OoL at the time and figured it wasn't necessary to have another hold over Narcissa, a weaker one then the OoL offered. "Something else, then? Hasn't she done anything she could be arrested for?"

"Not that I know of and I doubt she'd tell me even if she had." Harry sighed.

"Then we can't even blackmail her." Hermione mumbled and Harry was briefly surprised at that, until he remembered the Rita Skeeter solution Hermione had employed and recalled that she could be surprisingly ruthless at times. He wasn't quite as quick to rule out blackmail as she was however. He would have to give that one some serious consideration. "I'll see if I can come up with anything to deal with her, but promise me that you'll be careful in the meantime. She was married to Lucius for years, so I strongly doubt that she's all that innocent."

"I will." Harry agreed.

"What are we going to do about the Weasley's?" Hermione asked and Harry let out yet another sigh, something he'd come to do quite often lately.

"I dunno." he admitted. "I was the one affected, so perhaps I can get the charges dropped? I should have asked Fistfang, but I was kinda distracted by other stuff." he suggested.

"Come on, I've got some law books in my room. We'll see what we can find out." she suggested and Harry's lips quirked into a wry smile as Hermione practically skipped up the stairs towards her room, with him slowly following in her wake.

She might be, as Ron often claimed, a bit mental. But she was a terrific friend none the less and he'd never regret getting to know this fantastic young woman.

* * *

"Welcome home, dear." Narcissa greeted Harry as he returned to the apartment after another uncomfortable ride with the Knight Bus. "Did you have a nice time playing with your little friend?" she asked him teasingly and Harry bristled for a moment, before he forced himself to remain calm and not to rise to her taunt.

"Hello, sugarquill. And yes, I did." Harry responded with an annoyed expression and Narcissa smirked at him.

"'Sugarquill'?" she repeated with an oddly bemused facial expression.

"It might need a bit of work." Harry agreed with a tired sigh.

"Well, while you're thinking about pet names for me, my niece was here earlier and had a suggestion that I happen to agree with." Narcissa announced.

"Tonks was here?" Harry asked, for a moment feeling somewhat relieved as that likely meant that Narcissa had been at the apartment ever since he left and thus likely hadn't been up to something devious in his absence. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to handle any more major-league surprises like Dumbledore's arrest, the problems the Weasley's were having or something along those lines.

"Indeed. She suggested that we test you for Talents and I'm inclined to agree with her. After everything else, I wouldn't be all that surprised to find out that you're in possession of some rare Talents thought lost since the time of the Founders." Narcissa stated and shook her head. "Perhaps you're a Runemaster like Slytherin, seeing as you're a Parseltoungue. Or perhaps a True Seer like Ravenclaw. Or heck, why not a Dragonwhisperer like Hufflepuff since we're on the subject of lost Talents."

"You seem to know a lot about them." Harry commented, feeling more comfortable now when she was actually being informative and pleasant instead of intimidating and taunting.

"It always was an interest of mine and my life has left me with more time then most to pursue my various interests." Narcissa admitted. "Lucius wanted a male Heir and a pretty wife to trot about at social functions, but didn't much care what I did with the rest of my time. So I socialized, studied and spent as much time with Draco as I was allowed. That wasn't a lot, so most of it was spent making connections or studying whatever had caught my fancy at the time. So I probably know more about the Founders then any non-historian do."

"Can you tell me a little about them?" Harry requested, always having had a certain fondness for hearing about the Founders.

"The Founders always were the odd men and women out in the Wizarding world, you might say." Narcissa mused as she tried to recall something interesting to tell about them. "Godric Gryffindor was raised as a knight, you know. Back then, there wasn't any sort of formal magic education and no way to accurately predict when and in whom The Gift might manifest, so he didn't know that he was a wizard until his mid-twenties. Helga Hufflepuff was a village wise woman, treating the sick and injured with herbal remedies and folklore, occasionally sprinkled with the odd bit of accidental magic. Rowena Ravenclaw was the daughter of Godrics seneschal, helping out around the castle and spending whatever free time she had in the Gryffindor library. Salazar Slytherin was the only one of the four who knew about magic and was taught about it from a young age, having a wizard father and a witch mother. Helga had a witch mother, but suffered from a late magical maturity, so she was believed to be a Squib and didn't receive proper training growing up. One Pureblood, one Half-blood and two Muggleborns."

"Gryffindor was a horrible student to begin with, only dedicating himself to learn offensive magic in the beginning and only later on in his life turning to other areas of study. Hufflepuff took to the arts of Healing and Potions like a fish to water, but unlike Gryffindor, never neglected other areas of study. Ravenclaw was a natural, all strengths and no weaknesses. Had Rowena Ravenclaw received a magic education from a young age, she could have been the greatest magical being to ever walk the earth. Salazar was a fiercely devoted student of all the arts, a masterly Transfigurator and the greatest Potion Master of their generation. All of them were terribly powerful and became good friends over the years, a force of nature that couldn't be stopped. The four of them hit the Wizarding world of the time like a ton of bricks." she explained and let out a wistful sigh tainted with envy.

"By the time they retired and went into seclusion, they had completely reformed the Wizarding World. They left us with the beginnings of a Ministry of Magic as we know it today, to govern our world. They left us with the seed for the Wizengamot, to decide and uphold the laws we live by. They also left us with Hogwarts, the first of the great European schools of magic and the base upon which nearly every European Wizarding school is modelled after today. Only the Ascending Dragon Academy of Magic in China is older." Narcissa finished.

"Retired?" Harry asked.

"They were old at that point, all four of them past their two-hundredth year of age. Their powers were waning and their health fading." she explained. "It is said that their last cooperative effort was when they hid their families. Sometime after that, the rift which eventually divided them was formed and the four of them parted ways, never again to be seen by the Wizarding public."

"I though they had a fight." Harry interjected.

"Many believe so, but there's little historical evidence to back it up. We do know that Gryffindor and Slytherin had very spirited and very public debates over Blood Purity before the Wizengamot was formed. Gryffindor eventually had to step down and admit that Slytherin had a point after Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw argued against him." Narcissa explained.

"Blood Purity? That ruddy nonsense." Harry snorted and shook his head.

"Nonsense?" Narcissa asked with a faintly offended expression. "Blood Purity isn't nonsense, Potter. It's grossly misunderstood because so few chose to really study it, that much is true. But there are indeed inherent magical differences between Purebloods, Halfbloods and Muggleborn."

"What?" Harry asked, blinking in surprise. "Isn't that just because Purebloods and some Halfbloods are taught more about magic as they grow up?"

"There is some of that, of course. That part of it all is a bit of a double-edged sword and not always the blessing it might seem to be, however." Narcissa replied. "Purebloods are raised around magic, learn to expect it and subsequently have little innate fear of it. To them, it's the natural state of things. This usually, not always, but usually, means that Purebloods have an easier time learning how to do magic at first as they don't fear it. Muggleborn, having little to no contact with magic growing up, other then perhaps some cases of accidental magic, are different. While most find magic a marvellous and wondrous new thing, it's also something unknown and humans fears the unknown. Without being used to it, Muggleborns also have little knowledge about the Theory of Magic to begin with, which is a big drawback when it comes to learning the basics about some branches of magic. On the other hand, Muggleborns tend to be more innovative then Purebloods, not really knowing what is possible and what isn't supposed to be possible. Muggleborn often push the boundaries and what is thought possible to do with magic. Halfbloods differ pending on if they've had a mostly Muggle upbringing or a mostly Magical upbringing." she explained and took a deep breath.

"However, I was talking about the inherent difference in the actual magical core. Most people have completely misunderstood everything and use the various theories of blood purity to 'prove' that Purebloods are more powerful then Halfbloods who are more powerful then Muggleborns, or vice versa. Power plays very little part of it, however. While it is true to a degree that Purebloods in general are more powerful then Halfbloods, the difference is fairly insignificant, as is the difference between Halfbloods and Muggleborn. There's always the occasional exception, and those tend to be huge exceptions!" Narcissa started, glancing at Harry for a few moments, giving him an odd considering look.

"No, the real difference lies in the Talents. That is where the statistics and differences become impossible to ignore as mere coincidences. Purebloods have more Talents, that is a statistical fact. Muggleborns have fewer Talents, that's also a fact. Halfbloods fall somewhere in between." Narcissa started. "However, here's one interesting little tidbit that few people know about. While Talents are more common in Purebloods, it's becoming more and more rare for them to be full-blown Talents. They're diluting with every new generation. Many Muggleborn have no Talent at all and those few that do, often have only one Talent, while Purebloods have been found to possess as many as eight Talents. However, when a Muggleborn has a Talent, it's rarely a partial one. Most Muggleborn with a Talent, have the full Talent and not some partial diluted version of it. Once again, Halfbloods comes somewhere in between, one known case, a witch in Hungary having two full Talents and three partial Talents."

"Now, my niece mentioned that your hair seems to have a will of it's own from time to time and that you haven't cut it in years. Usually, that's a sign of at least a partial Metamorphmagus Talent. Since it's highly probable that you have at least one Talent other then Parseltoungue, she suggested to test for other Talents. For this, I would require some of your Hearts Blood, willingly given." Narcissa finished.

For a few moments, Harry struggled with the impulse to make some sort of comment about vampirism and blood-sucking in regards to his wife, but he managed to refrain from it.

He wasn't all that comfortable with handing his blood to Narcissa, however.

But this whole Talent business sounded awfully intriguing...

"I'll need an oath that you won't do something weird with it." he informed her, being done with just letting her walk all over him and land him in even more trouble then he already was.

"I swear on my magic that the blood about to be given to me by my husband will only be used to test him for Talents, nothing more, nothing less. It will be done in his presence and I'll destroy the blood after the testing is done. So mote it be." Narcissa easily responded after taking a few seconds to consider the wording of her oath and Harry slowly nodded his acceptance.

"So mote it be." he agreed and wished that it didn't feel as if he'd just made a deal with the devil.

The End! ( For now... )


	10. Chapter 10

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Chapter Nine:

"Ow!" Harry exclaimed as Narcissa gently pressed the needle into the skin just above his heart.

"Shhh..." she absently hushed him and he winced as she pressed the needle in a little bit further. "Hold it there for me." she breathed and Harry slowly moved his right hand up and carefully grasped the needle. Narcissa pulled out her wand and muttered a few invocations, before she ever so carefully pressed it against the end of the glimmering copper needle.

It shimmered for a few moments and Harry felt a sharp sting, causing him to emit a pained whimper.

"Shhh..." Narcissa repeated and ran her left hand through his hair in what was probably meant as a comforting gesture, but which only served to make Harry more nervous then before. It freaked him out somewhat as he wasn't really used to her being gentle, either in words or actions. She put her wand away and instead picked up a silver rod from the kitchen table. The rod had a hollowed core and as Harry held on to the needle, Narcissa carefully inserted the needle into the hollowed rod. "You can let go now." she instructed him and Harry did as instructed, then watched with morbid fascination as the needle slowly turned blood-red.

Narcissa murmured words just under her breath that Harry couldn't quite make out, leaving him feeling somewhat bored as the redness of the needle slowly spread to the silver. It took almost five whole minutes before the silver colouring was completely gone and the entire silver rod had turned blood-red.

"Finite incantem." Narcissa said and tapped the needle with her wand, then she pulled back on the rod and Harry exhaled with relief as the needle was extracted along with it. She gently touched the small wound with her wand and with a murmured incation, the small injury healed itself.

"Finally!" Harry exclaimed and rubbed the sore spot where he'd been pierced. "Was all that really necessary?" he demanded to know.

"The checks can only be preformed with your Hearts Blood after it has been purified by Hallowed Silver." Narcissa confirmed and nodded.

"You didn't penetrate as far as my heart, did you?" Harry asked with a worried expression, looking down at his chest for a few moments, before he started buttoning his shirt up again.

"No, I only needed to pierce your skin. The magic handles the rest." she revealed and handed the needle-tipped rod to Harry. "Carefully dip it into one of the potions, then the cleaning vial, wait until I tell you to and then move along and do the same to the next potion." she told him and seated herself at the table, picking up a quill and putting her left hand on a very thick tome she'd brought down from her bedroom. Harry looked out over the table and shook his head at the cluttered mess. Other then the tome, a stack of parchment, an ink pot and Narcissa's quill, the entire dining room table was filled with small saucers, vials and tiny cups. A vile stench permeated the entire room and his expression was somewhat apprehensive as he observed what some of the saucers contained.

Black potions, blue potions, green potions, bubbling potions, smoking potions, hissing potions, what looked like a human eye resting on a thin layer of vile-looking yellow-greenish fluid, a rabbits paw covered with a white-greyish liquid, a set of shrivelled human lips floating on top of a black bubbling potion, a glowing yellow potion that made his eyes water whenever he looked towards it and many, many, many others. There had to be at least a hundred and fifty different containers on the table, each one more exotic and weird-looking then the previous. The entire collection had cost almost three thousand Galleons to purchase, which he'd reluctantly dipped into his trust vault to pay for.

"You may begin." she said and stared over at where he was standing, an unusually intent expression on her face.

It sort of reminded him of how Hermione looked when she was about to learn something new and exciting, or Ron when he started ranting about the Cannons and Oliver Wood when he spoke about anything related to Quidditch. It was the expression of a die-hard fanatic doing something or talking about something they loved to bits and it surprised him a great deal to see Narcissa so seemingly enthusiastic about something.

Harry sighed and looked around for a few moments, before he cautiously dipped the needle into a nasty-looking purple potion that had what appeared to be fur or hair of some sort floating around in it. There was a faint bit of resistance as the needle approached and penetrated the splatter protection charm Narcissa had carefully applied to every single thing on the table, as she had explained that the testing could be somewhat messy depending on the results. He blinked as the potion swiftly turned into a bright red and the fur evaporated into foul-smelling pink smoke. He blinked at the odd-looking smoke for a few moments, before he dipped the needle into the cleansing vial, which would prevent previous tests to contaminate the results of any upcoming ones.

"Well, you're not an Enchanter anyway." Narcissa commented and made a note on the parchment in the top of her pile. "Next." she instructed him and Harry did as she requested.

The process took almost four hours to complete and was dreadfully boring. In his first year, he'd constantly been amazed and awed at how Wizarding Potions sometimes reacted when they were being manufactured and/or put to use. Sometimes, he still felt like that.

But after the fifth green cloud, the fourth shrieking noise and the dreadful brown potion that had *jumped* up from the saucer and exploded, showering the room with foul-smelling and dripping brown ooze, Harry was simply feeling bored and faintly apprehensive about the strange tests. Especially whenever Narcissa had seemed confused and had to consult the tome, before she'd scribbled something down on the notes she was taking, before asking him to continue. During those times, he had absolutely nothing to do and Narcissa had dissuaded him from disturbing her after the first two times he'd tried to strike up a conversation with her.

When Narcissa announced that they were finished, both of them headed off to refresh themselves while Dobby and Winky disposed of the mess they'd made in the dining room. Narcissa had thrown up a shield to protect him, herself, the tome and her notes, but she had still been splattered with some very disgusting smelling things and Harry privately thought that he must smell just about the same as Snape's potion storage would if Peeves had decided to just empty everything out onto the floor.

Then brought in Hagrid's entire menagerie, fed them a powerful laxative and giggled as the poltergeist was prone to do as the various animals added to the already existing mess.

The two of them had a quick meal, before they retreated to the living room where Narcissa brought out her notes and turned to Harry.

"Well... You're a full Wardtalker." Narcissa announced after consulting her notes.

"A Wardwossname?" Harry exclaimed in surprise.

"A Wardtalker." she repeated.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. What is a Wardtalker?" Harry inquired.

"Someone with a natural affinity for Wards of all kinds. Any Wards you put up will be more powerful and longer lasting then any put up by a wizard of comparable power and skill who isn't a Wardtalker. You will have an easier time breaking down or confusing Wards. It's even supposed to be possible for a talented Wardtalker to change and take control over Wards cast by others without destroying them." she explained and smiled faintly. "It's a rare skill, not full Metamorphmagi unique, but still very rare. Especially to such a degree as you apparently possess. William Weasley is a partial Wardtalker according to what I've heard, though his affinity for the gift only extends to the breaking down of Wards centred on dead matter. That is why he's as successful as a Curse Breaker, though he's no better then anyone else with equal skills when it comes to Wards centred on living beings. Bellatrix has a minor talent in this area as well, though her gift only enables her to confuse Wards somewhat more easily. As many as one out of a hundred witches and wizards may have the ability to some lesser degree, but the amount of full Wardtalkers in the last century can probably be counted on my two hands with a few fingers left to spare. It's not one of the lost Talents, but it's certainly gotten rarer over the centuries."

"Do these Talents run in a family?" Harry asked.

"They usually do, but they will on occasion manifest in somebody who hasn't had it in their family for dozens of generations. So just because both parents have a particular Talent, isn't a guarantee that their children will share their gift. But yes, most of the time Talents do run in families." Narcissa admitted.

"So... If Bellatrix is a Wardtalker, are you one too? Or Tonks and her mother?" Harry wondered.

"There are traces of Wardtalking in both me and Andromeda, but not so much as to make any real difference. Bellatrix is the only one who got enough of it that it becomes a noticeable difference from one who completely lacks the Talent." Narcissa replied, then smiled. "Metamorphmagus is another Talent that runs in our family. None have it as strongly as Nymphadora however. I can just barely change the length of my hair and with a great deal of effort, somewhat alter the colouring of it. Not completely change the colour, but I can shift between different shades of blonde. Bellatrix can change the colour of her eyes, though it gives her a dreadful headache for hours afterwards whenever she does so. Draco just barely manages to whiten his teeth and make his hair shinier, though he did receive partial Mage-sight from Lucius side of the family. We Black's are also Stormwardens, but Andromeda is the only Black who has even partially manifested that particular Talent since the seventeenth century."

"Stormwardens?" Harry exclaimed with a bewildered expression.

"A Stormwarden has an easier time manipulating the weather, which is a great boon as only the most powerful of witches and wizards are able to affect the weather otherwise. Myself or a witch of my power levels could probably make it rain for a little while or halt a minor breeze, but it would drain me completely for several hours afterwards. The amount of energy required to affect the weather, even on a minor scale, is immense! Andromeda however... She could turn a cloudless sky into a furious rainstorm in minutes and have a hurricane breathe down your neck a few minutes later, with energy left to spare afterwards. But in terms of pure magical power and the size of our energy reserves, I actually have more then her, though Bellatrix has us both beat hands down in that department."

"Cool..." Harry breathed and blinked. "Do you have a full Talent?" he asked.

"No, unfortunately not." Narcissa admitted with a faintly disappointed expression. "Partially Manifested Metamorph. There are hints of Stormwarden, Wardtalker and Silvertongue although not enough to make any difference compared to someone who doesn't have those Talents at all, but no full Talents." she revealed after a few moments to consider if she really should tell him, but she shrugged and decided that it wouldn't do any harm to tell him the truth.

"Silvertongue?" Harry inquired.

"The ability to sway the minds and emotions of others with words, also providing the option of imbuing what you say with magic, enabling you to make irresistible commands to those around you. A command uttered by a fully manifested Silvertongue has nearly as much power and effect as the Imperio, but it's nearly impossible to defend against it unless you are deaf or silence the Silvertongue." Narcissa revealed and shook her head. "That is one of the Lost Talents, there has been no confirmed Silvertongue since the sixth century, though hints of it pop up from time to time in some of the older noble families." she said with a somewhat wistful tone of voice.

"That must irk you something fiercely, having the potential but not the ability." Harry commented with an almost gloating expression.

"Thin ice, dear. You're not only standing on it, but jumping on it." Narcissa acidly responded with an angry expression and Harry carefully schooled his expression to neutrality. "You're also a Partially Manifested Metamorph, centred around your hair and face. I can give you a few pointers and get you started on how to use it for your hair, but Nymphadora will have to teach you how to manipulate your face. Parseltongue, as you already knew. Hints of Stormwarden, Conjurer and Charms Master."

"Conjurer?" Harry asked.

"The ability to conjure permanent objects instead of temporary ones." Narcissa replied. "Some say that your mother was a Partial Charms Master, but as far as I know, she never tested for Talents so that may just be a rumour. The Potters have had several Conjurers over the centuries, so that's likely something from your fathers side of the family while Charm Master likely comes from your mother. Charms Masters have an easier time learning and using Charms, they're also slightly more powerful then if cast by someone who's not a Charms Master. You only have hints of it, so perhaps it'll never manifest or if it does, it'll only affect one or a small number of Charms, not all of them. The Stormwarden likely comes from Black blood on your fathers side."

"Animagus? How about that? Am I an Animagus?" Harry asked somewhat eagerly.

"There are hints of Animagi, but that's even weaker then your Stormwarden, Conjurer and Charms Master Talents. It may be possible to force it to manifest, but I wouldn't bet on it." Narcissa replied after consulting her notes from earlier.

"So, I won't be able to become an Animagus." Harry sighed, feeling rather down about that.

"The Animagus Talent only enhances the Animagus Skill. You might very well be able to train yourself to become an Animagus, but you wouldn't reap the benefits of that Skill like somebody with the actual Talent would. Just one form throughout your entire life, slower transformations and the chance of getting stuck in your animal form unlike what would be the case for someone with an actual manifested Talent." Narcissa replied.

"Are you an Animagus?" Harry asked and Narcissa hesitated for a few moments, until she replied.

"Yes. Yes, I Am." she admitted.

"What is your form?" Harry asked and Narcissa hesitated for a bit longer, before she reluctantly nodded towards a very life-like painting of a beautiful white swan that adorned one of the walls, Malfoy manor partly visible in the background. After a few moments of staring at it, Harry realized that the swan had Narcissas eyes.

"Can you teach me?" Harry eagerly asked as he stared intently at what he now realized was a painting of Narcissa in her Animagus form.

"I could." she admitted. "But don't you think that you have more pressing things to learn before you try your hand at turning yourself into an animal? Even if you manage to learn it before having to face off with Voldemort, what good would that skill do you?" she asked and Harry blinked. "If you desire the ability to fly, then take a broom with you. If you want to spy, send someone else or use a Scrying Bowl. If you want to attack, use the Avada Kedavra. If you want to avoid an attack, transfigure something to protect yourself with or just dodge. No matter what form you might gain, it's unlikely that it would provide you with an edge you couldn't get in some other way, easier to learn and quicker to achieve."

"I guess..." Harry sighed. "I guess you're right."

"I think you'll find that I am right most of the time." Narcissa agreed. "You would do well to remember that." she added somewhat smugly. "I guess we can get you the potion to see what your form is, to find out if I am wrong in this particular instance. But unless by some miracle you turn out to have a Nundu form or something of the sort, it's unlikely that it will be worth the time investment to develop your form as long as the Dark Lord is around."

Harry shook his head and rolled his eyes at that. Granted, his life had always been screwed up and normality seemed like an impossible dream for him, but how likely was it that on top of everything else, he had some seriously cool Animagus form?

"So, Wardtalker and Metamorph." Harry summed things up and Narcissa nodded.

"One full and one partial Talent, hints of others but not enough that it's a certainty that they'll ever even partially manifest. That's very good, extremely so, even." she agreed and looked intently at him. "Nymphadora can tutor you for the later, I can get you started on Wards but you'll require a different teacher for the more advanced lore in the subject. I'll ask around and see whom I can find, as William Weasley is unlikely to be willing, considering the current circumstances."

She didn't bother to tell him that those circumstances were likely to change, if things went as planned and Harry acted as she suspected that he would.

Harry winced. He didn't really want to think about the mess the Weasley's had wound up in because of his wife.

"Why did you do that to them? They're a nice family and good friends of mine!" Harry asked.

"You've just answered your own question, Harry." she replied. "They're nice people, friends of yours and influential in the Order of the Phoenix. Things have to change in the Order and they would have fought those changes every step of the way, so I ensured that they would have other matters to concern themselves with for a while." she explained, not revealing that these things were just bonuses.

Her *real* reason for what she had done to them, was something quite different.

"Is there anything you won't stoop to, Narcissa?" Harry demanded to know and the two of them glared at each other in silence for a while, until Narcissa stood up and walked over to stand right in front of him.

"There are very few things I wouldn't do if they served my purposes. *Our* purposes, Harry." she replied. "*Very* few." she added in the calmest voice Harry had ever come across. Then from right out of the blue, she leaned forward and kissed him. It was soft and brief, but it was on the lips. "Case in point." she declared, then walked out of the room and left Harry wondering just what sort of mysterious and nefarious purpose kissing him could possibly serve.

Narcissa closed the door behind her and allowed herself a victorious amused grin at Harry's simultaneously stunned and suspicious expression.

Amusement had been brief and far between after her marriage to Lucius.

It seemed that it would be far more plentiful now when she was married to the boy who lived.

And he had yet to learn that sometimes a kiss was just a kiss.

Even if it did serve a purpose of sort now, even if it was just to satisfy a faintly lingering curiosity of hers and also provide a brief chuckle.

Even if it was an astonishingly good kiss.

She shook her head, wondering just how much better it would have been if he hadn't just been sitting there in shock. She'd apparently shocked him so much, that kissing a wall might have gotten her more response and yet she still felt a pleasant tingle from it.

* * *

"Good night, oh beloved husband of mine." Narcissa drawled as she poked her head into the master bedroom.

"What do you want?" Harry asked, pausing for a moment in the act of slipping into a t-shirt for the night at the unexpected interruption, before he continued.

"Since my niece wasn't feeling up to the task of preparing you for consummating our marriage, I enlisted outside assistance from our neighbour." Narcissa revealed, damn well nearly causing Harry to die of a heart attack as Rosmerta strolled into the room, dressed in nothing but a high-cut pair of white lacy panties and a wide grin.

"What?!" Harry exclaimed, his eyes nearly departing from their sockets due to the shock.

"I was merely wishing you a good night. There's no need to get all weird about it." Narcissa responded with a confused expression, nobody else present in the room besides the two of them.

Harry took a deep breath and dismissed the freaky fantasy he'd slipped into for a few seconds, wondering if he might not be better off checking in at St Mungos for a while. Marriage obviously wasn't doing his mental health any good and he suspected things would only grow worse as time wore on.

Although if all his fantasies were as intriguing as a topless Rosmerta, then perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.

"Nite." he said and Narcissa nodded, before closing the door behind her and heading for her own bedroom.

He shook his head. Ever since that 'anything you won't stoop to' conversation and the kiss at the end, he'd been plagued by weird thoughts and suspicions through the remainder of the day. As night approached, they'd gotten progressively naughtier, so he guessed that one like this was only to be expected when Narcissa bid him a good night.

The weird part of it was that he could actually see her arranging something along those lines, what with all her talk about concubines, secondary wives, devirginization schemes and whatnot.

Especially considering the mountain of books and magazines that Dobby had left on his desk at her request. Everything from Playwizard magazines to the Kama Sutra with moving pictures, raunchy magazines to instructive pamphlets to grimoires on sex magic.

He wondered if Narcissa had actually told Dobby to bring everything, or just told him what Harry needed and left the excitable house elf to his own devices. Well, whichever case was true, Harry Potter now had enough 'study material' that he probably wouldn't be able to finish it all even if he spent three weeks doing nothing but read his way through that impressive pile.

He scratched the back of his head and headed for his desk, grabbing one book at random, glancing at the cover.

"'Divine Skeeters Guide to the Sexual Arts'." Harry read off the cover, then blanched. "A relative of Rita's? Or worse yet, Rita under a phoney name?" he mumbled, then shoved the book into the bottom of the pile. Instead, he grabbed 'Theresa Willard's Sex for Wizards and Witches of all ages, a Muggleborns point of view' and headed for his bed.

If the two of them were actually going to consummate the marriage, he didn't want to make a complete fool out of himself.

Especially not if there was something completely outlandish involved in Wizarding sex that someone with a Muggle upbringing never could have imagined. For all he knew, Wizarding sex might involve a herd of sheep, a riding crop, odd-smelling potions at irregular intervals and a crowd of intrigued drunken bystanders chanting encouragingly.

As it turned out, it didn't.

Or well...

At least it hadn't since Roderic the Demented seduced Marianne Darkwaters during a wild party at the Darkwater summer mansion back in 1634 according to the introduction in the book he was reading. Harry shook his head in utter bewilderment at the rampant insanity that occasionally seemed to plague the Wizarding world and kept on reading.

* * *

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Narcissa snapped and threw her covers aside, then stormed out of her bedroom. She yanked the door to the master bedroom open and stalked over to Harry's bed, glaring down at her husband.

He was sweating like a pig and while the screaming had stopped by now, he twitched and shuddered in his sleep.

"I will not hit him, even if I do need my beauty sleep. I will not hit him, even if I do need my beauty sleep..." Narcissa chanted to herself, took a deep breath and seated herself on the side of the bed. She put her right hand against his cheek and used her left on his shoulder to gently shake him awake.

"No! Don't!" Harry exclaimed and looked as if he was about to start fighting with her, before he blinked and returned from whatever dark place he'd been in, staring in confusion at her. "Narcissa?" he questioned.

"You were having a nightmare, Potter." she informed him.

"A vision." he corrected her and looked away. "Draco has been marked." was all he said, causing her to gasp and flinch away from him.

"What?!" she exclaimed. "How? He's supposed to be in a Ministry holding cell, safe and sound from that sort of nonsense!"

"Voldemort sent your sister to liberate him. He's been marked and initiated now. He... He just..." Harry started, but trailed off into an uncomfortable silence.

"I gather killing was involved in finishing the Mark?" Narcissa eventually asked in a strained tone of voice and Harry nodded, wiping a few tears out of the corner of his eyes. "Somebody you knew?" she asked in an almost gentle tone of voice.

"Fellow Gryffindors... I wasn't all that fond of them, but they didn't deserve... They weren't... It was Colin and Dennis Creevy." Harry replied, causing Narcissa to flinch and gasp.

"I went to school with their mothers older sister, she was in my year and house. Their mother was two years below me, in Hufflepuff." she responded and looked away for a few moments. "Look... I know that the two of you hate each other, but... I want you to promise me that you'll try your hardest to capture Draco alive if you cross paths with him." Narcissa requested and averted her gaze as Harry simply stared at her. "He *is* my son." she said, but in a tone of voice that was much gentler and hesitant then he was used to.

"You didn't see him... I saw..." Harry shuddered.

"Harry, please... He's my son!" Narcissa pleaded with him, even foregoing her usual 'Potter' for once.

"What did you use the Oath for?" Harry asked after a few seconds of silence.

"You're a quick learner, Potter..." Narcissa responded after a few moments of utter shock. "Please!" she requested again, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes.

"The Oath, Narcissa. What did you use it to do before destroying it?" Harry asked again.

"I'm his mother!" Narcissa repeated.

"The Creevy's had a mother too." Harry countered, causing Narcissa to flinch again before she sighed and gave up, slumping faintly where she sat.

"I won't visibly age until you reach my physical age, Harry. After that, I'll only visibly age half as quick as I otherwise would." she started. "I won't *unwillingly* betray the secrets of this family. I added a part about 'not even under the influence of Veritaserum and Imperious', but I'm not sure if that'll work or not." she continued and looked away for a moment, before she almost defiantly looked back at him. "I won't feel uncomfortable about being married to you or having sex with you in regards to your age. I'll find having sex with you pleasurable and be able to bear you heirs, should I so desire." she finished.

"Is that all and are you telling the truth?" Harry asked after a few moments of shocked astonishment.

"That is all and the truth, on my magic, so do I swear. So mote it be." Narcissa responded.

"So mote it be." Harry mumbled and blinked in faint bewilderment. He'd harboured *extremely* grave worries about what she'd used it for and how it would affect him. But all she'd really used it for was apparently to make herself look prettier for a longer amount of time then she otherwise would and make herself feel more comfortable in their marriage.

That wasn't anything at all like he'd imagined what she'd done, though he had been tremendously uncertain as to what she could have done with it, as it only affected Narcissa herself, not him.

"Please, Harry. I'm not all that fond of how he turned out and I don't approve of what he's done now, but Draco is my *son*!" she insisted, grasping his hands in hers as she directed a pleading expression and watery eyes at him.

"If our paths should cross, I'll do my best to capture him. I promise." Harry replied, looking away from her as he promised something that he really didn't want to promise. After seeing for himself what Draco did for his initiation, he wanted to repay that bastard in kind for it.

"Thank you." Narcissa replied, then leaned forward and captured his lips with hers for a swift but moderately deep kiss. "Thank you." she repeated as she pulled away and put a little distance between the two of them.

"Smnoprbl." Harry eloquently responded with a dazed look on his face, causing Narcissa's lips to twitch into a half-smile for a split second, in spite of the horrible news she'd just received.

"Do you think you'll be able to go back to sleep?" Narcissa asked and Harry shrugged uncertainly. "Well, me neither." she said and stood up, then walked over and moved the comfortable chair over towards the bed. "How about the two of us talk for a while?" she asked as she seated herself in the chair and Harry eventually nodded.

Narcissa could be a very pleasant and stimulating conversationalist when she was in the mood for it and not being an utter bitch. A talk with 'nice' Narcissa sounded far more appealing then trying to sleep again so soon after his vision.

And it was pleasant, very much so.

Though he must have fallen asleep sometime during the conversation, because when he woke up, he was alone, tucked into his bed and the chair was back in its place, no trace of Narcissa anywhere in his room.

* * *

Narcissa had already left when Harry woke up, but she had at least left a note for him on the kitchen table this time, to let her know what she was doing.

Somewhat.

"'Left to try and find Draco. Back later. Narcissa.'." Harry read off the note, then settled down to read the paper and eat his breakfast, enthusiastically served by Dobby and Winky who almost got into a fight over who got to serve him. Without Narcissa around, they seemed more animated and 'less proper' then when she was present, likely sensing somehow that Narcissa wouldn't stand for any sort of nonsense in her presence. Draco and his 'jailbreak' was front page news and Harry carefully read the article. Bellatrix hadn't really reported how the jailbreak was accomplished to Voldemort, just brought Draco in.

Apparently, she'd killed four Auror guards and seven other Ministry workers, injured another seven Aurors and four workers, though the Prophet wasn't aware that it was Bellatrix who'd done the deed as she had been in disguise and used another wand. The wand and the disguise that had been registered in the Ministry reception had belonged to a Patricia Adams, a Muggleborn witch from Coventry who had gone missing three weeks ago.

Fudge had announced that all suspected Death Eater trials would involve the use of Veritaserum and would be held swiftly. As of now, the trials of captured Death Eaters would have top priority in the Wizarding justice system and their sentences would be executed equally swiftly. Harry nodded to himself, Narcissa had informed him that such would be the case after her meeting/blackmailing session with Fudge earlier in the week.

Dumbledore's arrest was still newsworthy, the questioning of the Weasley's and the capture of several entire families of suspected Death Eaters also got a bit of the media spotlight, but it seemed as if Draco's breakout was the most newsworthy piece of news at the time the Prophet was published.

Harry had moved and was sitting in the living room, reading the last few pages in the paper and sipping from a cup of tea, when he heard the loud pop of somebody Apparating in. As only he, Narcissa and Tonks were keyed into the Goblin Wards, he quite calmly and slowly lowered his paper after finishing the sentence he was reading, only to spit-choke on his tea at the sight that greeted him.

"Narcissa?! What in the name of all that's holy?!" Harry exclaimed as he let the paper and cup of tea drop, shooting out of his seat and staring in shock at the scene in front of him.

Narcissa had a large and seemingly deep gash going down her forehead, down across her left eyebrow and crossing half her left cheek before it stopped. It should have been bleeding profusely, but the flow of blood had apparently been slowed somehow, as it was just a slow trickle at the moment. She was wearing a light blue dress, or at least it had been light blue at some point. Now it was splattered with blood, torn and coated with dust and grime. She was unsteady on her feet, her wand was tightly clenched in her right hand and her left was being used to support the unmoving and unconscious form of one Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Help me put her on the couch, would you?" Narcissa requested in an exhausted tone of voice. "She's a lot heavier then she was twenty years ago." she added with a dazed half-smile that probably had more to do with a possible concussion then any real humour.

The End! ( For now... )

AN:  
After she had erased everything else on it, this is what Narcissa wrote on the OoL...

Your physical appearance will no longer age until Harry Potter-Black has become the same physical age as you appear to be and once he does, only age half as quick as you otherwise would.

No matter what his actual age is, you'll always view Harry Potter-Black as being of an appropriate age for your husband and as a sexual partner.

Being with Harry Potter-Black in a sexual manner is always a pleasurable experience for you, as any pleasure resulting from a sensual touch by him is magically enhanced.

You will not unwillingly betray the secrets of the Potter-Black family, not even under the influence of Veritaserum or Imperious. ( She's unsure if the last part will actually work, but figured that it wouldn't hurt to try... )

You will be capable of bearing Harry Potter-Black several heirs, should you so desire.

There. That's it, that's 'all' the OoL is good for at this point and from now onwards, as Narcissa destroyed it.

Since I so rarely decide to add author notes to my stuff these days, I also thought I'd take the chance to recommend an awesome Harry/Narcissa fic. "The Volunteer" by , you can find it here on fanfiction dot net. It's great, it's complete, I found it delightful and you should all read'n review it. Go, go, go!


	11. Chapter 11

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Chapter Ten:

"What happened? What have you been doing?!" Harry asked as he slowly approached his wife and her unconscious sister. He cautiously and extremely tentatively moved in under Bellatrix spare shoulder and slung her arm over his shoulders, wrapping one of his arms around her waist as he helped Narcissa move her over to the couch.

The moment Bellatrix was prone, he whipped out his wand and aimed it at her, then grabbed the wand she was still hanging on to, even in unconsciousness, yanking it out of her hand before he stepped back away from her.

"I was hoping that Draco would be staying with Bellatrix in her private hideout, but he wasn't there. I rummaged around a bit hoping for some sort of clue, but she came home in the midst of my search. I gather she doesn't approve of my recent marriage, as she tried to capture me while uttering some very unpleasant things about me and some very unflattering things about you. Things didn't quite turn out that way, however." Narcissa replied and then grunted as Harry suddenly fired a Stunner at her, dropping her like a sack of potatoes.

"If it's really you, sorry about that..." Harry mumbled and then proceeded to put both witches in full body binds and moved Narcissa, or at least the one who looked like Narcissa, over to the reading chair and then went to get the Messaging Stone Tonks had left with Fistfang. The goblin lawyer had sent it over with one of the Gringott owls that had the ability to pass through the sort of Goblin Wards that protected his new home since he'd forgotten to bring it after the meeting with Tonks.

He tapped the stone with his wand and waited for a couple of seconds, then the stone vibrated and started glowing softly.

"Harry?" came Tonks faintly distant-sounding voice from the stone.

"Tonks, I need you to come over to the apartment. Bring some healing potions and something to dispel Polyjuice transformations." Harry said while holding his wand against the stone.

"... Rightie-oh, I'll be there. I'll be expecting a good explanation, so you start working on that right away." came Tonks faintly worried and intensely curious voice after a few silent moments, before the light from the stone faded away.

Harry moved over to the two unconscious witches, preformed Accio for wands, Portkeys and weapons, then carefully and extremely awkwardly started frisking them in case there were any Accio-proofed unpleasant surprises hidden anywhere. Narcissa had a small knife strapped to her left wrist hidden in her wide sleeves that hadn't responded to Accio, Bellatrix had an extra wand on her right leg and a ring hidden in her stripy hair. He wasn't sure what the ring was supposed to do, but he shivered as he touched it and could clearly feel some nefarious purpose imbedded in it even without the assistance of diagnosis spells. Mere touch was enough to feel some great evil radiating from it.

When he was reasonably sure that the two of them had been rendered mostly harmless, as there were some parts on the two of them that he hadn't had the guts to check for hidden items, he did what little he could for the two of them. Mostly cleaning cuts, healing minor bruises and making sure that they were as comfortable as they could be, undoing the body binds to move them around.

A minute or two after Harry had done what he could, Tonks arrived and nearly fell over in surprise at the sight that met her.

"What happened here?!" she asked, looking between the two unconscious witches and Harry.

"Narcissa went out this morning, looking for Draco. She Apparated into the apartment with her unconscious sister a couple of minutes ago." Harry replied and frowned. "But I'm not sure that it's actually Narcissa. It could be Bellatrix Polyjuiced to look like Narcissa and Narcissa Polyjuiced to look like Bellatrix. I'm not sure how the Goblin wards work, but perhaps contact with the real Narcissa could have made it possible for Bellatrix to Apparate here. So I stunned 'Narcissa' until I could be sure that it's really her." he explained and Tonks slowly nodded.

"Moody would approve, but I'm not sure that Narcissa will if you're wrong." she commented and pulled out a small vial from one of her pockets. "Well, let's find out if you'll be sleeping on the couch tonight or not." she offered with a small smile, then sprinkled Narcissa's face with the potion. "I think it's the couch for you, mister. This is the real Narcissa." she announced, then sprinkled Bellatrix as well. "And this is the real Bellatrix." she breathed with an almost reverent tone of voice. "I gotta give Aunt Narcissa major credit for that, Aunt Bellatrix is one devious sneaky witch."

"I know..." Harry replied and glared at the unconscious woman. "I've done what little I can for them, can you take a look at them and do what you can?" he requested and Tonks nodded, then got to work.

"Well, Narcissa is mostly all right now. She might need to see a specialist to make sure that this won't leave a scar and she'll need a lot of rest, but she'll make a full recovery." Tonks announced once she was finished with Narcissa, indicating that the former wound on her face had left a nasty scar after Tonks healed it to the best of her ability.

Unfortunately, she'd never made any extended studies in that particular field outside of emergency battlefield healing. She was adept enough at quickly fixing dangerous injuries, but only in the quickest and crudest of ways. Scars were quite another thing, especially as she herself didn't have to worry about them as she could simply morph herself pretty after an injury had been fixed, should a scar or other blemish remain.

"She's got a broken left ankle and I'm no good with bones, but other then that, she'll recover completely." Tonks finished once she'd had a look at Bellatrix as well, while Harry had almost reluctantly ended the Stunner he'd put Narcissa under before. Her body relaxed easily enough, but she didn't regain consciousness, likely due to her exhaustion. "You should have told me to bring Poppy right away or called for her instead, Harry." she added.

"No." he simply declared. "No more people then absolutely necessary can know about this. Besides, she couldn't get here on her own and you're not able to bring unauthorized passengers through the Wards anyway. Besides, that Bellatrix has been captured will have to be kept a secret from everybody else." he added.

"What are you talking about? I'll have to bring her in!" Tonks responded with a confused expression.

"Yeah, like we haven't seen how well that has worked before." Harry grunted with a shake of his head. "Narcissa apparently let the Aurors take Draco so he would be kept safe and wouldn't get involved in something dangerous, but now he's missing and has been inducted as a Death Eater. The Ministry guards at the holding cells are either dead or injured." he explained and looked over at Bellatrix, a hateful shimmer in his eyes that caused Tonks to shiver uncomfortably as she wondered just how much of a life expectancy Bellatrix had if she didn't get her away from Harry.

"That was before. With the new guidelines Fudge enacted, she'll be tried and convicted before there's time for a jailbreak." Tonks argued.

"We can't take that chance with someone as dangerous as her!" Harry protested and raised his wand in the Auror's direction, only to suddenly find Tonks facing him, her own wand held out towards him.

"Oh no, Harry. You got the jump on me once, I'll give you that and I'll even praise you for catching a trained Auror unawares. But don't expect the same thing to ever happen again now that I know what you're capable of." she informed him with a stern expression, as the two of them faced each other at wand point, staring silently at each other for several tense moments.

"Then I guess he's fortunate that he's got me to assist him." Narcissa suddenly commented, causing Tonks to freeze as she felt something poking into her back and heard Narcissa's calm voice from just behind her. "I'm with husband dearest here, niece. I'm afraid that I can't allow you to arrest Bellatrix just yet." she continued and Tonks shook her head, slowly lowering her wand until Narcissa pried it out of her hands. "Thank you for that, as I suddenly seem to find myself without a wand." she added and moved her left index finger away from the lower back of her niece.

Tonks eyes widened as she realized that she'd been tricked, that had been no wand that Narcissa had threatened her with.

"I'm sorry, Tonks." Harry apologised.

"I am too, Harry. Me too..." she said as she focused a disappointed expression at him. "I'm an Auror, Harry! Do you really think that you'll get away with this? I *have* to report this!"

"Actually, you're currently a plain civilian as you're on vacation. Additionally, I think you'll find that you're no longer wanted as an Auror when you get back from your vacation." Narcissa claimed with a faint smile, as she hobbled back to the reading chair, where she slumped down with a relieved sigh, obviously still worn out from her earlier jaunt outside and the confrontation with her sister. "Amelia Bones no doubt has a few issues with you being part of an illegal vigilante group. You'll likely be given the choice of resigning as an Auror or give a binding Oath not to have anything to do with the Order in the future." she continued and gently touched her own face, wincing when she traced the outline of her scar. "Will this heal?" she asked with a faintly worried tone of voice and a rapidly paling complexion.

"You'll need to see a specialist for that, because I'm no good at removing scars." Tonks responded and Narcissa slowly nodded, deciding to make an appointment with a specialist as soon as possible. "Aunt Narcissa, Aunt Bellatrix is a criminal of the worst degree. Justice must be served!" she claimed.

"My son is missing, Nymphadora." Narcissa replied. "My sister likely knows exactly where he is and I intend to get that information from her." she continued and looked over at Bellatrix for a few moments. "She's also been one of the Dark Lords most loyal followers and likely has all sorts of valuable information to share with us in addition to the location of my son."

"And after that?" Tonks demanded to know.

"She is my sister..." Narcissa replied with a faintly uncomfortable expression. "I know that she'll have to face justice for what she's done, but..." she added, but trailed off with a sorrowful expression. "I won't be the one to turn her in. I just won't." she finally declared.

"And what do you have planned for her, Harry?" Tonks asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I want the information she has as well." he admitted, though he didn't admit that he hadn't even thought about that part until Narcissa had mentioned it just now, then his expression grew hard. "After that though... Tonks, she's the one who killed Sirius!" he snarled, his wand-hand twitching with fury.

"Harry, you can't just kill her. She has to face justice for what she's done." Tonks argued.

"Harry, you can't just kill her. She's my sister!" Narcissa argued and Harry sighed, rubbing his temples as the two women glanced at each other, before looking back at Harry.

"Narcissa, Draco was one thing. He's been a right prat for as long as I've known him, but until his initiation, he's mostly just been a major pain in the arse and not a real threat. Bellatrix... I can't promise anything when it comes to her!" Harry protested with a furious shake of his head.

"Draco was initiated after his jailbreak?!" Tonks exclaimed with a horrified expression, only now recalling what Harry had revealed earlier with this additional reminder.

"Yes, Potter had a vision of it." Narcissa absently replied, while looking thoughtfully at Harry with her arms crossed. "All right, 'husband dearest'. You've shown yourself willing to negotiate in the past. I don't want you to kill my sister. What do you want in return?" she asked, causing Harry to blink in surprise.

"What?!" he exclaimed.

"You blackmailed me for information in return for your promise not to kill Draco, so you're obviously willing to negotiate when it suits you." Narcissa replied and caused Tonks to blink with surprise at that particular revelation. "Well, so am I. I want Bellatrix. Now, what is it you want in return for leaving her fate up to me?" she asked again and Harry was just about to tell her to shove her ruddy negotiation up her uptight Pure-blooded arse, when he suddenly realized that he'd just struck gold!

"I want your promise to divorce me when I become of age, Narcissa." Harry replied and got a furious glare in return.

"No." she replied, shaking her head dismissively. "Try again." she suggested.

"Come again?" he exclaimed.

"If you're living with the delusion that you're ever going to get me to agree to a divorce, then let me dispel that little fantasy right now." Narcissa replied. "Until death do us part or things radically change for unmarried witches, 'husband'." she almost growled. "So, forget that. Either suggest something else or start *trying* to take me down, because I won't let you lay a hand on my sister."

"Ahhh, newlyweds..." Tonks murmured as Harry stared in shock at Narcissa.

"Ah, ah, ah, niece. Keep your hands where I can see them." Narcissa said, as Tonks had made use out of Harry's distraction to shift her hands towards her back. She pouted and slowly moved her hands back again as Harry glanced back at her, then shifted around so that he could watch both Tonks and Narcissa at the same time. "Isn't trust amongst allies a wonderful thing?" Narcissa commented with a faint smile, before she glanced pointedly at Harry again. "Well, do you have another suggestion or shall we start cursing each other?" she urged him on.

"All right." Harry eventually responded. "I want three things from you, in return for Bellatrix survival." he announced and Narcissa nodded at him to go on. "First... I never want to see her again, ever! Second... No more going off unannounced on your own like this morning! Third... No consummation!"

"The second is agreeable, I think we can come to an agreement that unless it's absolutely necessary to avoid delays as lives might be at stake otherwise, I'll discuss my comings and goings with you. The third will be hard if you still want us to be married, unless you know of some way to trick the Ritual, because I certainly don't. The first... The first we'll have to discuss. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't trust Bellatrix to not come up with some way of getting away if she's left to her own devices for too long." Narcissa replied, causing Harry to frown.

It wasn't as if they had their own personal Azkaban they could put Bellatrix in, so as loathe as he was to admit it Narcissa actually had a point. If Bellatrix wasn't killed and instead merely kept as a prisoner, then he'd certainly not trust her not to do something utterly devious!

"What were you planning on doing with her?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well, as Dobby and Winky decided to settle in one of the upstairs hallway closets after they converted it to suitable elf quarters, we do have your guestroom to spare..." Narcissa hinted with a carefully studied neutral expression.

"You... Move in... She..." Harry stuttered, then took a deep breath and regained his focus. "You intend for her to live here?" he asked for clarification, but didn't wait for a response. "You intend for my godfather's killer to live here with us? Her?!" he snapped, pointing angrily at the unconscious Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Her, yes..." Narcissa agreed and sighed. "Look. I bought a lot of properties from Draco, but I can't really put her at any of them. Not only might she run away on her own, but there's also a chance that she'll be broken out by other Death Eaters as Draco is well aware of the Malfoy properties. Lucius was an absent father, but he certainly did show Draco all he had coming to him as heir to the Malfoy family." she explained and nodded at Bellatrix. "She'll need to be watched closely and hidden away from her allies, both of which she'll be here with us and inside the Goblin Wards."

"Or at Azkaban..." Tonks muttered. "This wouldn't be a problem if you'd just let me take her in." she hinted.

"Hush now, Niece." Narcissa suggested to her. "The adults are talking." she added, causing the younger woman to bristle indignantly although she did refrain from commenting.

Audibly.

She appeared to be quite vocal under her breath, however...

"You're serious?" Harry breathed. "You *really* want us to harbour Bellatrix here? In our home?!"

"Yes." Narcissa replied with a firm nod. "Now that we've established that, all we have to agree upon is your price for allowing that to happen."

Harry rubbed his temples as his gaze once again strayed to Narcissa's slender neck. That strangling thing was becoming more and more appealing by the minute.

* * *

"You've got a very determined wife." Tonks commented as she indicated a long blue dress. "How about that one?" she asked.

"Don't I bloody know it..." Harry muttered and glanced at the dress. "How should I know? Try it on and decide yourself, I'm just the pack mule and ambulatory wallet." he replied with a tired sigh.

It was weird how things worked out sometimes. Yesterday, if somebody had asked him what he thought might happen today and received a *thousand* different answers from him, then *none* of them would have been that he'd be out buying clothes for his new flatmate Bellatrix Lestrange.

But seeing as Narcissa's clothes didn't fit her sister and all that bloody woman had to wear was the dirty and torn robes she'd worn when Narcissa brought her over, he had agreed that it was necessary.

It was nauseating enough having to live with the woman, without her walking around flashing her skin through the tears in her clothes every other second.

The negotiations hadn't gone well, especially not with Tonks providing a running commentary and the occasional outrageous suggestion from the sidelines. Narcissa had provided counterpoints for nearly all his suggestions and he'd very nearly been about to raise his wand and duke it out with his wife, when Narcissa had sighed and offered up some suggestions of her own on his behalf.

They'd harbour Bellatrix with them until the war was over and Narcissa would be allowed to use that time to do whatever she could to lighten the sentence Bellatrix would have to face once Voldemort wasn't a threat. When he was dead and his other Death Eaters neutralized, they'd turn Bellatrix over to the Aurors and the dubious mercy of the Wizarding justice system.

Narcissa would fit her sister with some sort of slave gear. Anklets, bracelets and a collar that'd somehow keep the woman under control by magical means. He'd never heard of such things and Tonks hadn't either, but she had promised to research it and let Harry know if what Narcissa had told him was the truth. It would keep Bellatrix under control, mellow her out a bit and possibly also help with her disturbed mentality.

They'd also look through the Black Vault and locate the Oath of Loyalty for Bellatrix. They'd put down some things jointly to ensure that she behaved herself, but they had also agreed that Harry would get to put down two things of his own on it for Bella's punishment if he so desired, as long as those two things didn't endanger her life or incapacitated her in any sort of permanent manner.

Narcissa wouldn't run off without letting him know about it beforehand, unless lives were on the line and it was absolutely imperative that she did so. On the other hand, she'd somehow gotten him to make the same promise to her so he had to talk to her about his comings and goings as well. She had however sworn to tell him the truth about what she was up to, which he hadn't done in return, so he could at least lie about what he was up to should it become necessary.

He'd also gotten her to promise to never get him declared mentally unfit, even if he really did go bonkers at some point. She'd also offered her full support to him in the social, political and economical arena, though she had claimed that she would have done that anyway, but now he had a binding Magical Oath that she'd do just that.

He wasn't really sure if it was a good deal or not, considering that he'd now have to put up with having Bellatrix around the apartment, but he had resolved to do his best to live with the devils bargain he'd just made with his own wife.

It had been necessary to make a deal with Tonks as well, as Harry had been dead set against simply Obliviating her as Narcissa had first suggested. Narcissa had managed to convince Tonks that she would be out of a job soon, so his 'darling' wife had offered her a new one as compensation.

She would serve as a guard for Bellatrix and also function as the Potter-Black body-guard during public outings, something Narcissa claimed was necessary for a man and woman of their standing. Harry had groaned at making even more of a spectacle of himself, but had eventually caved and agreed. Tonks had been incredibly hesitant to accept, but after Narcissa had told her that her salary would be half again as large as the one she had as an Auror, more vacation days and that she was welcome to eat with them instead of making her own meals, she'd been quick to accept.

So much for 'doing the right thing' and bring Bellatrix into custody! Everyone apparently had a price, it was only a question of finding out just what that price was. The going rate for Tonks was apparently free food, more money then she currently earned and twenty-five paid vacation days a year.

"All right." Tonks replied in response to his suggestion, grabbed the dress and headed for a changing room where she could strip out of her clothes, morph into Bellatrix and try the dress on for size.

Though he still didn't quite understand just how he'd wound up having to go shopping for his deranged sister-in-law.

But he supposed that it was better then sticking around the apartment as Narcissa woke her up. He wasn't sure that he'd be able to control himself around that freak of a killer and he'd gladly put that particular meeting off for as long as possible, as he wasn't in any hurry whatsoever to find out if he could keep from killing her or not.

* * *

"Urgh..." Bellatrix grunted.

"Snap out of it, you miserable excuse for a human being." Narcissa urged her sister, causing the woman in question to focus a bleary gaze at Narcissa, upon which her eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a feral snarl.

"You bitch!" she snarled and tried to claw her sister in the face, only to discover that she couldn't move anything below her neck. "What the hell are you doing, you bloody slag?! You went through my apartment! And where the hell am I now?" she demanded to know.

"Shut up, you freak of nature." Narcissa icily replied and grabbed Bellatrix by the front of her robes, pulling her up off the couch and putting their faces right next to each other. "Where is my son? Where is Draco?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know, you blood traitor?" Bellatrix laughed. "What the hell were you thinking, marrying the Potter brat?!"

"I wasn't at the time. He used my Oath of Loyalty against me." Narcissa replied. "Now, where is my son?!"

"Potter did?" Bellatrix exclaimed with an astonished expression. "Well, well, well... First he Crucio:ed me and now this? He's got a bigger set of conkers then I first gave him credit for!" she laughed.

"I wouldn't know about his conkers, as the marriage hasn't been consummated yet." Narcissa commented, then held her wand just in front of her sisters' right eyeball. "But you're getting off track. Where is he?! Where is my son?"

"He's with the Dark Lord." Bellatrix replied with a shrug. "I only have my own place because it's not a good idea for a woman to stay around a bunch of murdering raping assholes 24/7 and the Lestrange estate isn't the smartest place to hide out in. Though considering how much of a feminine-looking butt-monkey your pitiful excuse for crotch droppings is, perhaps he should consider a place of his own as well before he becomes the bitch of some bugger-inclinated Death Eater!" she added, only to shout in pain as Narcissa fired a mild stinging hex right into her eye from point-blank-range. "Ow! You bitch!" she cried out as her eyes teared up and she realized that she couldn't keep her eyes closed for longer then a swift blink, before they were forced open again.

"Let me make three things perfectly clear, Bella. First, I love you to pieces. I know that we've grown apart since you wound up in Azkaban, but I do love you." Narcissa calmly informed her. "Second, know that I don't have time for your antics and won't stand for you insulting my son right now." she continued and then bared her teeth at her. "Third, I love Draco more then I love you and I won't hesitate to tear you limb from limb unless you tell me exactly what I want to know!" she finished with a snarl.

"Now that's my loving sister right there!" Bellatrix muttered with a demented smirk, blinking furiously to ease the pain in her eye. "He's with the Dark Lord and the hide-out is under a Fidelius, so I can't tell you where it is." she smugly added.

"But if I know you right, you know way more then you're supposed to, so you'll probably be able to tell me when Draco might next be away from that hideout, right?" Narcissa hinted with a faint smirk.

"Oh, I just might." Bellatrix drawled. "I might know about a little field trip for some new Death Eaters, where the little rookies will have to stretch their own tiny wings and fly solo, bravely slaughtering some defenceless Muggles. A real test of bravery." she snorted, refraining from mentioning that it was right up Draco's alley to do something of the sort, simpering little ninny that he was.

"Oh? Do tell, sister dear." Narcissa replied, moving her wand over to her sisters left eye. Bellatrix was one sturdy and hardy woman, able to endure just about any sort of torture and means of interrogation. But Narcissa knew that her weak point was her eyes, knew just what buttons to push in order to get Bella to tattle.

And Bellatrix most certainly did tattle her little tail off, spilling her beans about everything she knew in regards to a raid on Privet Drive. Now that Harry was gone and partially a Black, the wards had weakened enough that they could be shattered without too much of an effort. Even inexperienced Rookies should be able to manage it and Voldemort had thus picked the newest recruits to eradicate Harry's relatives and their neighbours.

"So, now that I'm at your 'tender' mercy, what in the world are you going to do with me?" Bellatrix asked with an artfully innocent expression, feeling more confident now that Narcissa wasn't threatening her eyes any longer.

"Let Harry interrogate you and then I'm going to make you my loyal little slave for the rest of your life." Narcissa replied neutrally. "It's for your own good." she added by the way of explanation as Bellatrix stared at her in astonished shock, her mouth hanging wide open as her jaw had simply dropped at the surprising statement from her sister.

"What?!" she demanded to know.

"You've never been much of a history buff and never cared much about the old tales of the family Black, so I doubt that you're aware of it. But there are a set of items that can be used to bind someone to another person. Slowly and over time, those very items will bind your will to mine, until you're a faithful little lapdog. My faithful little lapdog." Narcissa explained with a calm emotionless expression. "In order to save your life, I had to promise that I'd turn you in. But I was also promised in return that I could do whatever I could to lessen your sentence. Well... As a slave, you're considered my property and thus can't stand trial for your crimes. I'll likely have to pay some sort of fine to pay for your crimes, but you'll get to live, even if only as a slave." she continued and glared down at Bellatrix. "It'll save you from certain death." she finished.

"If that's how you save people, then I want no part of it!" Bellatrix snarled.

"You don't have a choice in the matter, sister dear." Narcissa announced. "If I have to enslave you in order to save your life, then I'll bloody well do it! Stupid crazy bitch or not, you're still my sister and I love you!"

"You've certainly got an odd way of showing it, you despicable slag!" Bellatrix growled, then spat Narcissa in the face.

Ahhh, sisterly love...

The End! ( For now... )


	12. Chapter 12

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Chapter Twelve:

"Ah Harry Potter, you miserable excuse for a semi-human being." a tightly bound Bellatrix snarled as Tonks Apparated back into the apartment living room with Harry in tow. "And my worthless law-abiding niece to boot! Oh, joy of joys." she drawled sarcastically, then focused completely on Harry, smirking ferally at him. "Missing your widdle dogfather, Potter?"

Harry whipped out his wand and had the Cutting curse on the tip of his tongue, when Tonks suddenly tackled him to the ground and wrestled the wand out of his hand, throwing it aside before she grabbed both of his wrists, holding him down and straddling his waist.

"Tonks! Let me go!" Harry snapped as he struggled to get out of his grip.

"Kill him, Niece! Break his neck! Pull his limbs off, one by one! Kick him in the knackers! Poke his eyes out!" Bellatrix whooped from the couch with a blood-thirsty grin.

"You can't kill her, Harry!" Tonks protested, strengthening her grip on him.

"I'm not going to kill her! I'm going to *maim* her! I'll tear her skin clean off, pull her hair out, yank out that ruddy tongue of hers and then I'll feed it to Hedwig when the Goblins are done with her!" Harry ranted.

"Don't do that! That black tongue of hers will poison your beloved owl." Tonks joked with a wry grin as Harry struggled furiously to free himself while Bellatrix ranted in the background, only to surrender after a while as he realized that it just wasn't going to happen.

At least not for as long as Tonks was present.

For such a clumsy easy-going petite girl, she was surprisingly strong, deceptively quick and very adept at hand-to-hand.

"Let me go, Tonks." Harry sighed, calming down somewhat.

"No! Kill him! Or better yet, end this ruddy paralysation and unglue me from this fucking couch so that *I* can kill him!" Bellatrix ranted.

"Do you think you'll be able to behave if I do let you go? At least until I'm away from here?" Tonks asked. "I'm still an Auror you know, at least for a while longer, so it'd be a bad idea to do something naughty while I'm still here." she added with a wry grin and an annoyed expression directed at Bellatrix.

"Children, children, children..." Narcissa sighed from the doorway, her hair wet, her feet leaving wet imprints on the floor and a large luxurious towel haphazardly wrapped around her torso to somewhat protect her modesty.

Obviously, she'd been taking either a shower or a bath, when the noise started and she came running to investigate.

"They started it!" Tonks exclaimed, jumped off Harry and pointed at Harry and Bellatrix, fingering the guilty parties, before she blinked and suddenly sported a faintly embarrassed expression at her childish reflex action. Narcissa had sounded *very* much like her mother with her sudden comment and her body had just acted on old reflexes before she was aware of it.

"I don't care who started it! Just stop it, all of you!" Narcissa replied, before she too grew a faintly surprised expression at what had come out of her mouth, purely by motherly reflex. "Nymphadora, you'd better silence my overly chatty sister before she says something that my husband will give her cause to regret." Narcissa requested after a long speculative glance at Harry, who was glaring at Bellatrix with his hands twitching, as if he was imagining all sorts of horrible things he wanted to inflict upon her.

"With pleasure!" Tonks agreed and plucked her wand out, grinning at Bellatrix.

"I'll hold on to this for a while, I think." Narcissa stated and bent down to pick Harry's wand up from the ground. She 'accidentally' revealed a fair bit of wet naked thigh and a hint of what else was hidden underneath her towel as she crouched down for the wand, taking great pleasure out of seeing Harry's flustered expression as he whipped his head away from her, his cheeks colouring at what he'd gotten a brief peek at.

When he looked back at her, he had to turn his head away once again however, as Narcissa slowly slid his wand into the valley of her breasts, before she sashayed away.

Tonks had halted in her preparations to silence Bellatrix and observed her other aunt for a while. When Narcissa left, Tonks looked back at a still faintly blushing Harry Potter.

"Y'know, I think I'm starting to see why you would put up with being married to her. If I was swinging that way, I think I would be tempted, aunt or not." she commented with a teasing grin, much to Harry's further embarrassment, then she turned her attention back towards Bellatrix. "Now, what was it you said earlier, Auntie? 'Worthless', am I?" she drawled and fingered her wand, almost caressing it in fact. "I've never tried to Accio somebody's tongue before, but I'm betting that it'd shut you up if it works... And if it doesn't, well, I guess there's no harm in trying again and again..." she mused.

"Oh grow up, you useless piece of multicoloured trash. I've been threatened by the Dark Lord himself on several occasions. Back in the glory days, I fought face-to-face with Mad-Eye Moody until our fight was interrupted by Dumbledore and the Dark Lord engaging each other in quite the little tiff. You don't come close to being even a tiny bit as threatening as either one of them." Bellatrix snorted uncaringly.

"Harry... I'm going out for a walk, okay? Would you mind holding on to my spare wand for, oh, say half an hour or so until I get back?" Tonks inquired with a glance over at Harry, who instantly nodded and nearly started salivating at the mouth at that prospect.

"On second thought... You do show some potential..." Bellatrix mumbled with a faintly apprehensive look in Potters direction.

Unfortunately and to Harry's huge disappointment, Tonks didn't make good on any of it, instead she simply used a standard Silencing Charm.

Narcissa returned fifteen minutes later, looking almost as prim and proper as always.

She'd done her damndest to conceal the scar, but Harry noticed that under intense scrutiny, there was a faint line to be seen, especially if one knew where to look. He saw Narcissa's expression momentarily darken as he stared at her, but her expression returned to a neutral one as she seated herself in the comfy 'reading chair' as Harry had dubbed it.

She pulled out his wand from one of her sleeves and after a brief moment of hesitation, tossed it over to him. He simply held it for a couple of seconds, then put it away with a regretful sigh.

He couldn't help but to notice that all three females in the room seemed to relax as he did that.

"Did your little excursion pan out?" Narcissa asked once the tension had settled somewhat and Tonks nodded, pulling out a several small packages from one of her pockets, which she rapidly restored in size until five paper bags were standing on the living room floor.

"I can't say that shopping clothes for the most wicked witch in Britain was among the things I had planned for today, but we found enough to tide her over for a while." Tonks replied, looked into one of the bags and then pulled out a pair of tiny bright yellow thong panties with purple stripes. "Aren't they adorable?" she asked with a grin at Bellatrix, who blanched at the outlandish item which was a far cry from the more modest cut and conservative colouring she preferred. "Oooh, and look at this!" Tonks continued as she let the panties drop and from another bag withdrew a hot pink t-shirt with lettering which asked 'Is that a wand in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?' in bright blue neon letters. She pulled up another one, this one was a simple black one, but with white lettering saying 'I went to Azkaban and all I got was this lousy T-shirt!'.

Bellatrix looked far more intimidated at the prospect of having to wear clothes picked out for her by Tonks, then at the Aurors former threat to unleash Harry upon the defenceless witch.

"I hope that there's at least *some* items of clothing in there that won't offend my sensibilities too much?" Narcissa asked with a disgusted tone of voice.

"What? They're really cool!" Tonks chirped and let the t-shirts drop, then pulled out a neon green scroungie from one of the bags. "Look! You can put her hair up in a pony tail and everything, really doll her up!" she exclaimed and expertly flicked the scroungie at Bellatrix who was hit right in the face by it, while she screamed silent protests due to the silencing charm.

"Husband dear... Did the two of you pick out anything even remotely resembling normal clothing or was everything selected for the express purpose of preventing escape because it would be by far too embarrassing to be seen out in public wearing it?" Narcissa asked with a tired sigh.

"Oh! Bonus feature! Didn't even think of that!" Tonks interjected with a wide grin.

In fact, the entire lot was pretty normal, but she had transfigured them to the most hideous items imaginable before they returned, just to be able to see the look on the two sisters faces.

There were a couple of gag choices however. The Azkaban t-shirt was real, as were the hideous underwear. Harry had adamantly refused to even enter that section of the store and Tonks had went wild in there, only going for the more outrageous items she could find. Other then what she might or might not currently be wearing, Bellatrix wouldn't have a single pair of 'normal' underwear for the duration of her stay.

* * *

"Potter. Do you have a moment?" Narcissa asked, poking her head into Harry's bedroom. He instantly lowered the book he was reading, not wishing for his 'wife' to see the title of the book he was reading. Sure, it was her fault that he had a copy of Gerald Summers 'A wizards guide to bewitching your witch' in the first place, but that didn't mean that he was at all comfortable in letting her see his current choice of reading material.

"Sure, I guess." he sighed, gesturing for her to enter.

It had been a strained evening with Bellatrix around the place. Even when bound, glued to the couch and silenced, the woman *still* managed to annoy the hell out of him. If he had known how to do it, she would have been portkeyed into a deep'n dark dungeon and the key to it launched into the deepest part of the ocean.

They didn't have much of a choice however. Until he had access to the Black Vaults, they couldn't take any chances. Once he'd claimed his inheritance, they could recover Bellatrix Oath of Loyalty. Until then, the woman was a serious escape risk. The only times she'd been released from those bindings, had been so that Narcissa and Winky could accompany her to the bathroom so that she could relieve herself, take a shower and change into some clothes that weren't about to fall apart. She'd also been released once for lunch and once for supper, so that she could feed herself.

Neither of the three were willing to feed her and she apparently intimidated the heck out of the poor elves, who shivered and flinched whenever she spared them a glare or a feral toothy grin, so she was unbound for meals. Apparently Lucius and Draco hadn't been the only one ones who had enjoyed a 'fun' game of Dobby-punting in the past and Dobby had apparently told Winky about it. Even bound and glued to the couch, the elves still feared the woman.

While Harry would like to see her dead or tortured for what she had done, he couldn't find it in himself to refuse her food and drink. He'd been left hungry far too often in his past for him to wish it upon anyone, even his second worst enemy. Narcissa and Tonks had seemed quite surprised by that, until he told them that he'd never wish hunger upon anyone after growing up with the Dursley's, at which point both of them had looked faintly nauseated.

Tonks had hugged him and shed a few tears in sympathy. For a few gloriously wonderful moments, he'd wondered what it might have been like if he'd actually taken a chance and asked her to marry him. If by some outrageous stroke of luck she'd accepted, he'd be married to her instead and then he likely wouldn't have to put up with Bellatrix being around. Then he'd returned to reality again and pulled out of the hug.

For a moment, the expression Narcissa displayed had almost led him to believe that she would repeat the actions of her niece and give him a hug of her own, but she'd slowly composed herself and the moment passed as if it had never been.

Before the day was over, they had also hammered out the details of Tonks future employment and had asked Fistfang to come over. He'd put everything together into an official contract for them, so it could be processed immediately once she'd been fired from the ministry, as Narcissa had claimed that she would be if she refused to leave the Order. Narcissa had also asked the Goblin to procure the items and documentation necessary for a Slave Bonding Ritual and Harry had put the crafty old Goblin on a permanent retainer. He'd been dead useful so far, even if things hadn't worked out quite as Harry had imagined them.

As the apartment was starting to become unexpectedly cramped with the addition of Bellatrix and a future bodyguard who apparently relished the thought of not having to arrange for her own meals in the future, he'd also asked Fistfang to look into the possibility of buying the neighbouring apartments after the Goblin had explained that simply expanding the place by magical means would greatly disturb the Goblin Wards, which were extremely sensitive to size-expanding or reducing magics. Anything more serious then restoring the shrunken clothes shopping from earlier or shrinking smaller things for easier transport out of the apartment, could be detrimental to the Wards. Creating enough space for one or more new rooms, would likely bring the Wards down entirely according to the lawyer's explanation.

They could afford the cost of recasting them, but none of them relished the thought of having their first line of defence down until the wards had been reapplied.

Fistfang had also brought a letter from Hermione. His friend must have been researching non-stop since he left her home, as she provided him with a whole slew of legal passages that he could make use out of to help the Weasley's and Dumbledore during their trials. She had also looked into the Marriage Bonds issue, but regretted that she had yet to find any way to fake a Bond.

What little was mentioned about them in the sex education reading material he'd went through so far hadn't mentioned anything about it either. He'd found a great deal of spells that could only be used on somebody with which you had an active Marriage Bond, most of them which caused him to turn beet red with embarrassment as he read about them. It seemed that some very talented witches had at one point or other in the past been tremendously disappointed in the marital skills of their husbands and done a fair bit of research into how this situation could be remedied.

There were a whole slew of charms and even the occasional curse and hex, that could be used in the bedroom between two people in a Marriage Bond. Most of them aimed to create, increase or withhold pleasure in some way or other. There were others to restore vitality, temporarily increase fertility and even one extremely naughty-sounding one to draw sustenance and enhanced stamina directly from your own magical core, to lessen the need for having a break for food and water during extended romps.

Harry actually thought that last one sounded pretty useful, especially if it could be used outside of the bedroom.

He truly wished that somebody had cast that one on him during his childhood with the Dursley's, so he wouldn't have gone hungry quite so often.

"What is it?" he asked a bit apprehensively. Even if she seemed to be in one of her rare nice moods, he wasn't all that hot on spending time with her at the moment, even if he hadn't just been reading what he had. After having watched Bellatrix like a hawk throughout most of the day, he was feeling a bit worn out and had actually looked forward to being alone for a while to wind down.

Though he worried about what sort of surprises the future would have in store for him.

He *truly* hoped that there weren't any as bad as today's little revelation that he'd have to live under the same roof as Bellatrix Lestrange for the time being!

Honestly, the only thing he'd managed to imagine that could top that, was if Narcissa were to reveal that she'd decided for them to adopt Voldemort as their son!

"I just wanted to thank you." Narcissa replied as she entered the room and came to a stop in front of him in his chair. "I know that you utterly loathe my sister and while I can't really imagine what it must be like for you, you still agreed to let her live here with us." she explained and Harry looked away for several long moments, until he finally sighed.

"She's your family. Family is important." he replied tersely.

He'd never really had one that he could remember, but in his darkest moments growing up, he'd often wondered just what it would be like to have a *real* family and tried to imagine it.

One of the conclusions he'd reached during those ponderings and from observing how the Dursley's acted with each other and how other families acted around each other, was that if he had one, he'd *never* want to let it go.

He felt somewhat ashamed of the fact that while the other boys at Hogwarts talked about having a girlfriend, or several girlfriends, to snog and shag, he had fantasies about something quite different. He imagined a home, a family. A moderate-sized house, a loving wife, two or three children, perhaps some pets.

Sure, snogging and shagging had been involved in his fantasies as well, he wasn't a complete freak after all!

But mainly his little fantasies revolved around the concept of a home with his family and the love which they'd all share. A wife to love and who loved him in return. Children that he could spoil rotten and give a far better childhood then his own had been. A dog or two to take on walks in the morning or a cat in his lap to pet in the evenings after the children had gone to bed.

Narcissa, or somebody who behaved even remotely like Narcissa, certainly hadn't been part of his fantasies and someone like Bellatrix most assuredly hadn't!

But family was important and in spite of the fact that he hated Bellatrix with every fibre of his being, she was family to Narcissa and he was married to Narcissa.

He might still kill that freak in a bout of rage or something. But at moments like these, when he was calm and at relative peace, he had to admit to himself that he couldn't find it in himself to rob Narcissa of her sister. He even wondered if he would be able to turn Bellatrix in when the war was over, if he was still alive at that point.

Could he do it? Could he turn in the murderer of Sirius, the woman who had driven poor Neville's parents insane with her cruel torture? Could he turn her in, knowing that it'd likely be the end of her and rob Narcissa of her sister?

Even if the two of them were divorced at that point, could he do it?

Harry didn't know for sure and that uncertainty scared him.

Because if he couldn't... Then what? What would happen then?

"Still... Thank you." Narcissa said, then crouched down and gave him a brief kiss.

Harry even somewhat responded to it this time and as it ended, he didn't quite know if he should be grateful or resentful for the fact that it had ended so quickly.

"Why can't you be this nice more often?" he asked softly, being somewhat surprised at himself for doing so, as he hadn't intended to say that out loud.

"I am extremely good at being nice! I can even do warm and friendly, when it suits my purposes. Twice a year, I even work actively at it. Christmas eve, I do volunteer work at a soup kitchen in Romania and every Easter, I fill in as a nurse at the elderly ward at St Mungos." Narcissa replied somewhat stiffly. "You wouldn't believe how popular I am with the crazy old fogies and those starving unwashed peons."

/Funny how quickly things can change.../ Harry mused. A few seconds ago, he hadn't been sure if he had wanted a kiss with the woman to end or not. Now, he was looking at her throat and felt how his hands twitched around the book, longing to wrap themselves around that slender neck of hers.

Narcissa looked down for a moment after having witnessed how his expression darkened and took a deep breath, calming herself.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to rile you up." she briefly apologized. "I truly only wanted to say thank you. That was a really nice thing you did, possibly the nicest anyone has ever done for me. I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate it and that I am very grateful for what you did." she said and looked away for a moment.

At the time she had been too intent on saving her sisters hide to really consider it, but as she sat in her bedroom combing her hair as she mentally went through the days events as she always did at the end of every day, she had started to consider just what a truly monumental sacrifice Harry had done for her. She had felt somewhat humbled as she thought it over, even experienced a brief stab of guilt at how she had treated him and promptly decided that a show of gratitude was in order.

No matter how much her pride protested against such an act.

"How are your injuries?" Harry asked, changing the subject.

"Nymphadora took care of most of them." Narcissa replied, reaching up to unconsciously finger the facial scar hidden beneath several layers of makeup, before she realized what she was doing and yanked her hand down to her side.

"Does it hurt?" Harry asked and concernedly reached out and trailed a finger along the line of the scar, or at least where he knew that it was. She'd applied more makeup during the day and managed to conceal it completely, but he had an excellent memory when it came to injures and knew exactly where it was. He blinked as he realized what he was doing and quickly snatched his hand away from her.

Narcissa gave off a brief shudder at his unexpected touch, her eyes fluttering due to the near-caress.

"That one itches somewhat and some of the others ache a little from time to time." she admitted after a moment to regain her focus. "A night of uninterrupted sleep ought to fix most of that."

/That felt... Weird.../ she thought, wondering just what the hell brought those unexpectedly powerful sensations about, it had almost felt as good as that ever-so-brief kiss just now.

"You'll have to teach me some of your tricks sometime, that must have been one impressive duel." Harry commented, causing Narcissa to pause in order to consider what he'd said.

"I can teach you the basics and some intermediate skills, but you have to realize that I haven't been an active dueller since my Hogwarts days and that I've only been in one real fight and that was this one against Bellatrix." Narcissa admitted after a few moments.

"You seemed to have done well enough against her." Harry pointed out. Except for the scar, Narcissa had gotten off light compared to Bellatrix who'd taken far more serious injuries.

"She got cocky and I got very lucky. She had me disarmed and bound up in summoned ropes within a minute of the first spell being cast. Fortunately, I know how to do Wandless Accio and I really lucked out with it. I summoned her boots and she hit her head on her living room table going down, giving me a chance to summon my wand and free myself. But even dazed and confused, she damn well nearly managed to beat me." Narcissa admitted after an even longer break then her previous admission. She sighed. "I know the basics of *formal* duelling and I do know quite a few rather rare spells that could certainly catch more then one experienced dueller off their guard. But I haven't actually gotten to use very many of them in a duel or trained with them for years and I don't have any experience whatsoever with actual fights." she continued and took a deep breath of air, knowing that what she was about to suggest wouldn't be well received.

"My sister is a living, breathing Death Eater. She has stood toe-to-toe with some of the most skilled fighters the opposition has had to offer and lived to tell the tales about it. She knows Death Eater tactics inside and out, which isn't all that strange as she's trained more then her fair share of new recruits. She also has a Dark Magic repertoire that is second only to the Dark Lord and possibly one or two other now living people. She's participated in more real fights then anyone else I know of besides Alastor Moody and knows exactly how to capitalize on both her own strengths and an opponent's weaknesses." she explained and offered him a wry smile. "Like it or not, but when it comes to learning how to survive a real fight with the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters, you do live together with just about the best teacher you could ever ask for... And it isn't me."

"But she's..." Harry started and trailed off into silence, glaring at the wretched woman he was married to.

What she was suggesting...

He had been wrong. There was something that could shock him more then having to live with Bellatrix, other then the adopt-a-dark-lord-thing, and it was having Bellatrix Lestrange teach him how to defeat Death Eaters and power-hungry former Head Boys!

"Currently not doing anything but eating our food and giving the elves a little bit more to do when it's time to do laundry and dishes." she commented and shrugged. "I can find you other teachers of course, but it seems like a shame not to take advantage of the best one, especially considering the circumstances. Besides, this will be an excellent opportunity for you to learn how to keep a tighter rein on yourself and improve those anger issues of yours."

"Oh, and I suppose you're the perfect human being, completely without flaws?" Harry snorted angrily.

"Not at all. I have my own fair share of flaws. But the difference between you and me, is that I am aware of and actively working on mine." Narcissa replied and sighed as she realized that she had once again managed to rile him up. Seemed like she had another flaw, one she hadn't been aware of until now. "Sorry, I seem to have a knack for achieving the precisely opposite effect that I was going for when it comes to you." she said. "I'll speak no more of this for the time being. Besides, myself and Nymphadora can likely handle your introduction to more advanced defensive and offensive spellwork then your Charms, DADA and Transfiguration classes can provide you with. You likely won't reach a level where you'll benefit from my sisters teachings for a while yet."

"No... You're right, she's here and loathe as I am to even consider it, she could be of some use. Once we have her Oath of Loyalty, I'll consider it. Once she stops cursing and telling me how she's going to kill me, perhaps I can focus enough to actually learn something from her." he grudgingly responded.

If he'd managed to get through Potions with Snape teaching him, a subject that he had little fondness for in the first place, how bad could Duelling with Bellatrix be?

/Pretty darn bad!/ he decided. /But... Worse then Potions or Occlumency with Snape?/

"We might actually want to let her still do that. You could certainly benefit from constant anger-management lessons." Narcissa said and then instantly apologized as she saw that Harry was once again growing upset. "Sorry! I'll say no more. I'd better leave before I upset you again."

She looked into his eyes for a moment, then leaned forward and gave him another brief peck.

"Good night, Potter." she offered.

"Night." he grunted, still somewhat irked. But before she reached the door, he spoke up again. "Narcissa?"

"Yes?" she asked, stopping and turning around to face him.

"It's Harry. Hearing 'Potter' makes me feel like I should be looking around for Snape." he stated and was met with silence. "Please." he added and she slowly nodded.

"All right. Good night, Harry." she responded and got a brief hint of a smile from him in response to her concession.

"Good night, Narcissa." he said in a somewhat more friendly tone then his previous terse 'Night'.

She sighed after she had closed the door to his bedroom and slowly walked over towards her own. As she entered she glanced briefly at her bound, stunned and silenced sister lying under the covers on a newly acquired bed the house elves had brought over earlier and placed in one corner of her bedroom. Once she was under control, she could move into the guest room. But until then, Narcissa decided to keep a close eye on her devious sister.

She had failed Draco, letting him slip out of her grasp and into the corrupting claws of the Dark Lord. She thought he would have been safe in a Ministry detention centre until she could arrange to have him sent out of the country.

Now that he was initiated as a Death Eater, it would be much harder to protect him. Before, she only had to worry about keeping him away from the Dark Lord. Now, he was also a fugitive from the law. Briefly she considered using the same solution as she intended for Bellatrix, but she couldn't do that, not to Draco.

No, she wouldn't fail him again. He would have to be sent away, for his own safety.

And she wouldn't fail Bellatrix!

She headed for her makeup stand and seated herself, absently fingering her scar beneath layers of makeup.

Before Fistfang left, she and Harry had given him several letters for him to post, one of which was a request for an urgent appointment with a scar removal specialist at a renowned cosmetic clinic in Paris. Both she and Lucius had used them in the past, she for anti-aging treatments and Lucius to deal with the occasional scar he'd wound up with during the Dark Lords first rise to power. They were discreet and extremely good at what they did, so she had high hopes that this hideous disfiguring abomination could be removed and her appearance restored.

She gingerly removed her makeup and stared at herself in the mirror with a supreme effort of will, forcing herself not to look away from the scar.

It truly was hideous, at least in her own eyes.

She gingerly ran her finger across it and gave off a brief shudder, though unlike when Harry had done it, this one was from distaste, revulsion and fear that even specialists wouldn't be able to remove it.

She continued to look extremely closely at herself. She did look good for a witch of her age, but still...

If only the damned OoL could have made her look younger, she would have done so in a heartbeat. She had heard tales of people using it to somewhat halt the appearance of aging, but knew none personally who had done so. The trick of creating an OoL had originally been a Black family secret, but a few other families had been taught the process of creating one over the centuries since the first one was written. By this point, about half of the older Wizarding families in Britain likely held the knowledge of how to create one somewhere in their private libraries. Which ones actually used them however, was harder to tell. Even the Blacks themselves hadn't really kept up with them for the last century or so and when they did, it was usually only to keep the family safe. If it hadn't been for crazy old Cedrella Black, who had run off and gotten married to a Weasley back in 1937, then her father Cygnus and mother Druella might not even have bothered arranging for Narcissa and her sisters to have them.

Or she knew that she had one anyway. She assumed that her sisters did as well, although why they never used Andromeda's to get her back after she ran off with Ted, was somewhat of a mystery. Perhaps grandpa Pollux had taken them after they were signed and put them in the main family vault or perhaps they were so ashamed that Andy had left, that they didn't want her back into the family. But if they had made one for her and made her sign it, back when both Andy and Bella were good little girls who seemed to be growing up to be shining examples of proper purebloods, it only stood to reason that her two older sisters also had signed OoL's locked away somewhere. Fistfang had confirmed that Bellatrix had one, but she hadn't thought to ask about Andromeda at the time.

Research on Oath's of Loyalty were conducted in the Department of Mysteries and there had been some private research into them conducted by various members of the Black family, so the fact that they couldn't make someone younger or even look younger, was well established knowledge. How well they worked to prevent aging, was a trickier issue. Witches generally tended to visually age up to around their early twenties, then the process usually halted for a period of time, the length of which differed according to their bloodline and general power. Five to seven years for most, just above a decade for the truly powerful ones. After that, aging came in brief spurts with a few years between those spurts, which resulted in the fact that a witch well into her seventies usually could pass as a fairly well preserved Muggle in her early fifties.

She was twenty-five years older then Harry was and while she could probably pass for a Muggle in her late twenties to early thirties, the signs were there and they were growing more obvious to her. Wrinkles had started appearing where none could be found before, her skin didn't feel quite as impeccable as she could remember, her breasts were still firm but she had noted that some of their earlier perkiness had started to fade, in spite of fairly regular exercise she had noted that she took on weight easier these days and a million other things she had noted.

She was growing older in spite of herself.

Hopefully the OoL could prevent that. She had written that she'd stop aging visibly until Harry caught up with her and she truly hoped that it would work. What little research that had gone into visual appearance and what changes the OoL could do, had been fairly inconclusive. De-aging wasn't possible, but she did recall reading about one witch in particular that hadn't seemingly aged at all in almost twenty years between her forties and sixties. But if that was because the OoL kept her that way or if it was just her own magic, wasn't proven. Unfortunately Malefica Black had been one of the more powerful witches of the eighteenth century, so if her own powers had kept her age from showing or if it was due to conditions set down in her OoL, was unknown.

She hoped it was the OoL, because if she kept on decaying like this, she'd be an old hag before long and getting a nasty vile scar like this, certainly wouldn't improve matters any.

Oh, she dearly hoped that the scar that had been left after Nymphadora healed her could be removed. If it couldn't...

Well, Narcissa didn't even want to contemplate that horrible scenario.

Sleep didn't come easily for her that night.

The End! ( For now... )


	13. Chapter 13

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen:

"This is sort of exciting." Narcissa suddenly remarked in a low whisper from Harry's immediate right.

Harry grunted.

The two of them were currently sharing his invisibility cloak, hiding underneath it behind the fence of Privet Drive number three, keeping an eye at number four across the street and waiting for the rookie Death Eaters to arrive.

Tonks was hiding underneath a cloak of her own that was on loan from the Order of the Phoenix, right next to them.

"I haven't gotten to sneak around like this since Hogwarts." Narcissa continued and Harry did a small shuffle to his left as their hips bumped together. Even if his cloak was bigger then the one Tonks used and Harry had to admit that his physical stature wasn't the most impressive around, fitting himself along with a grown witch underneath it still made it somewhat of a tight fit and he felt extremely uncomfortable being so close to Narcissa. While he had started being around people more since coming to Hogwarts, he still felt uncomfortable around adults. Then again, considering that the four adults he had spent the most amount of time around while growing up were Petunia, Vernon, Marge and Mrs Figg, perhaps that wasn't so strange. There were the teachers at school of course, but he'd never really had much contact with them outside of a classroom setting. Not that he was all that comfortable around kids his own age either, but he had gotten somewhat used to it even if old fears of them being scared away from him still made him feel like somewhat of an outsider even when in the midst of others. "Is it like this all the time, Nymphadora?"

"Auror work? Hardly." Tonks whispered back. "We get our unfair share of boring paperwork, but mostly it's talking to people, taking statements, forensic spellwork and trying to find the information you're looking for. There's the occasional stakeout, the odd spurt of excitement and on rare occasions, a fight or two with some stubborn perp. But staking out a street, while waiting for some Death Eaters to arrive, isn't all that common for us. That's mainly Hitwizard work, though we are occasionally called in as help to bolster their numbers. Or at least it used to be that way until budget cuts reduced the number of Hitwizards, leading to more and more of their tasks being turned over to regular Aurors. But as I'm still kinda green, I don't get to do much of that and when I do, I'm usually told to hang back and learn from the more experienced old-timers." she explained with a faint sigh. "It's better in the Order, as at least then I'm actually one of the more experienced ones when it comes to stuff like this, even if Moody, Shacklebolt and Hestia sometimes treat me as a rookie."

"Hm, it might have been interesting to have had a job. I've never really been anything else other then a student and a housewife." Narcissa mused. "Researcher, perhaps? Magical historian. Perhaps Department Head at the Ministry. Even Hitwizard sounds intriguing, although I probably would have quit half-way through training."

"Then look for a job. There's nothing stopping you now." Harry suggested and noted how Narcissa once again raised her right hand up and slowly raked her index finger across her concealed scar, something he noted had become somewhat of a reflexive action for her since she got injured. He wasn't even sure if she was aware of the fact that she was doing it as often as she did. Sometimes, she appeared to catch herself in the act and always yanked her hand away as if she had burned herself, scanning her surroundings to see if anyone had noticed her doing it. But there were countless times when she didn't catch herself.

She hadn't been doing it as much since they arrived and hid themselves here, but that was likely because of the fact that she appeared to be very distracted by excitement. If he had to liken it to anything, he'd say that she was behaving like a giddy schoolgirl anticipating a new toy!

Or so he assumed, he had very little experience with giddy schoolgirls in spite of being a schoolboy at a mixed gender school.

Perhaps like Hermione anticipating getting her hands on a new book or Ron awaiting the results from the latest Cannon game. That, at least, he could somewhat relate to as he spent the most amount of time around those two. If Narcissa was like this because she really was excited, or if it was merely a facade to conceal how nervous and worried about her son she truly was, was quite another matter. But at least she was better company this way, then when she was being all condescending and acidic.

"I'll think about it." she agreed with a faint smile.

It was a nice notion to think about, some distant fantasy to occupy her mind, anything to distract herself from what she was actually doing.

Which was waiting for Draco and the other Death Eater rookies to arrive.

Tonks had the Order on standby, but hadn't revealed that she knew exactly when or where the Death Eaters would strike. She'd just told them that she had information that there would be a raid today, but not exactly when or where it would take place. The Order had been highly impressed that she even had that much, as things had been too calm ever since that whole mess at the Ministry and without Snape, they hadn't been able to find out much about what the Death Eaters were up to. Diggle was now actually their best source of intelligence, even if it was kinda iffy. The kind and cheerful older man usually spent at least two to three hours a night at various Wizarding pubs around the country and had been doing so even before joining the order. He was a pureblood, but from a minor family that had been neutral for as long as anyone could remember and he was seen as something of a scatterbrain. But a scatterbrain that was quick to treat someone he knew to a drink, had a million and one jokes to whip out and who was an excellent listener. People talked to Diggle, people shared with Diggle and after a few drinks, sometimes told him more then they were supposed to. But while he did get a bit of Death Eater gossip that way, really valuable information tended to be extremely rare, so Tonks knowing about a possible raid even if it was only that there would be one and that it would be tonight, had been more then the Order had managed to get since Snape was arrested.

The three of them had agreed to try and handle matters on their own, but call upon the Order if things turned sour, which was why the Order was on standby, ready to be called into action.

Tonks had some issues with that as there were only three of them against at least ten people according to what Bellatrix had revealed, but had reluctantly agreed that getting Draco out of trouble would be easier if it was just the three of them, so she'd caved and given in to Narcissa's request for the three of them to try and handle the raid on their own. But she'd be lying if she didn't have doubts about it. She was fairly confident in her own skills and knew from experience that she stacked up pretty well even against more experienced Death Eaters. Harry was good for a schoolboy and according to both Sirius and Remus, he was a real powerhouse for his age, but he was still a schoolboy. Narcissa had by her own admission not even participated in a formal Duel since her time at Hogwarts and spent almost two decades as a bored housewife, but she was fairly powerful and had at least been part of the Duelling Club in Hogwarts, so that was something at least.

Although while Narcissa might not be an experienced fighter, Tonks had to admit that she certainly had a few good ideas for an ambush. She'd prepared a grid of ready-to-be-triggered Sticking Charms all around Privet Drive. They could be easily banished, but it would give them a nice edge and would likely surprise the hell out of the rookies. At their feet, were a bunch of disillusioned enchanted Bludgers that Narcissa and Tonks had worked together with in order to make them seek out anyone with a Dark Mark. Tonks would have had no idea how to go about doing something like that, but after examining the Mark Bellatrix carried had been adamant that she could make the Bludgers target anyone with a Mark.

With their feet stuck to the ground and a bunch of Bludgers zooming towards them, the Death Eaters would be plenty distracted and be left wide open for another devious little surprise that Narcissa had in store for them.

Apparently, there was a small Asian bug that was drawn towards and ate enchanted woods. It was quite rare, but could be found in various parts of Asia, which was why Wandless magic was more developed in that part of the world then anywhere else. They had been hunted to near-extinction and were now fairly rare in the wild, but they were still bred in captivity for industrial purposes and because they could be harvested for ingredients used to protect the very same enchanted woods that the bugs liked to devour. Narcissa had procured a small colony of them and would be releasing them right on top of the Death Eaters when they arrived.

There weren't enough of them and they didn't work fast enough for them to completely disarm the Death Eater rookies, but Narcissa believed that they may be enough to cause at least a few magic mishaps due to corrupted wands if the confrontation drew out.

With the five bags of Peruvian Darkness Powder Tonks had gotten from the twins which she intended to whip out if things turned sour and they had to call for reinforcements, they should manage to hold out until help could arrive if the worst came to pass.

But with those kinds of distractions and the element of surprise on their side, she hoped that the three of them would be enough to handle a bunch of rookies on their own.

When a Portkey dumped fourteen young men and women in white masks and black robes in the middle of the street, all three of them tensed up underneath the invisibility cloaks.

Narcissa quickly unleashed the bugs from the disillusioned hovering jar, then activated the Sticking Charm on the street between Privet Drive six and seven, while Tonks and Harry unleashed the hard-to-spot Bludgers. The Bludgers weren't quite invisible, especially not at the speeds they were going, but they would be hard to spot and even harder to stop because it'd still be quite hard to target them even if they weren't completely invisible.

"Amateurs. They should have split up." Tonks snorted as the surprised Death Eaters first discovered that their feet were stuck to the ground, then that they were under attack by hazy blurs. They yelped and grunted, struggling to move as the Bludgers started smacking into people, causing loud shouts of pain.

"Let's go." Narcissa declared and Harry threw the cloak off them, then started Stunning everything in black robes that moved.

All in all, it worked out beyond all expectations.

The rookie Death Eaters were all but two fresh out of school, two of them were older and more experienced, but one of them got her Wand arm broken by one of the Bludgers before she could do anything. The second managed to unstick his feet and fire a Cutting Curse at Tonks, but she dodged it and got him with a Stunner before he had time for anything else.

In less then half a minute after their arrival, all fourteen Death Eaters were down and out for the count, most of them never having gotten off a single spell.

"Well, that was anti-climatic." Tonks grunted as Narcissa deactivated the Bludgers. Then the three of them extremely carefully tracked down and captured the bugs, which were busily and happily munching on the Death Eaters precious Wands.

"Worked out better then I thought." Harry admitted as he started unmasking people, going from Death Eater to Death Eater looking for familiar faces. "Oh, here's Draco." he replied, nodding at the boy in question after having pulled his mask off. He'd also covertly kicked him in the ribs, before he made that announcement and attracted Narcissa's full attention.

He'd recognized a couple of older kids from Hogwarts and two he thought might be from Durmstrang when the masks had been removed, but Draco was the first one he'd talked with in the past beyond a terse 'hello' or two when coming across one another in a Hogwarts corridor or so.

"Better get him away from here before somebody comes to investigate what took place here and to Obliviate the Muggles." Tonks suggested and Narcissa put a Sickle Portkey down on her child's chest, then activated it, sending Draco off to the apartment.

The three of them hastily collected a few remaining bugs, Stunned everybody once again for good measure and then Narcissa Apparated away with Harry, while Tonks stayed behind and sent out an Auror Distress Call, calling for reinforcements to arrest the Death Eaters and Obliviators to deal with the nearby Muggles, some of which had witnessed the ambush and magic that had been tossed around by everyone involved.

* * *

"Ugh." Draco groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He looked around and wondered just where he was and what had happened.

One moment, he'd been recovering from being Portkeyed and the next, his feet were stuck and something hazy slammed into his stomach. He'd been coughing and wheezing, when all of a sudden everything had just turned black.

And now, he'd woken up sitting on a high-backed chair in a small living room from the looks of things, with a sore stomach and an aching left ribcage.

"You truly are useless, you spoiled waste of flesh." a cold voice informed him and Draco snapped his head around, gasping as he discovered his Aunt Bellatrix on the sofa.

Wearing *Muggle* clothes and with magic ropes going around her arms and torso!

"Ah, you're awake." an even more familiar voice commented and soon enough, his mother appeared in one of the doorways to the room, holding a small half-eaten biscuit in her left hand. "How are you feeling, honey?" she asked in a concerned voice as she approached him, fondly caressing his left cheek with her spare hand.

"Mom?" Draco questioned and tried to get up, only to discover that he was apparently stuck to the chair and was also bound with magic ropes. "What's going on?!" he asked in a shrill voice.

"Your aunt Bellatrix sung like a canary after I'd caught her, spilling the beans and letting me know about the raid." Narcissa revealed and Draco stared at Bellatrix, who turned her head away with a faint blush of shame, growling out what sounded like a long string of sulphurous curse words in a low rumble. "I worried about you." she mumbled and bent down, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Why am I bound? What's going on?" Draco demanded to know, while secretly enjoying the heck out of the hug. He had missed his mother something terribly recently, though he'd never ever admit it out loud when they weren't alone.

"I have to smuggle you out of the country." Narcissa sighed. "If it had just been the Dark Lord who wanted you, I might have been able to hide you. But now you're wanted by the law as well, if word about your initiation gets out, you'll be wanted for murder." she said in a low and faintly disappointed voice. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I allowed you to get hurt, so I'm going to have to send you away for your own safety."

She could have kept Draco around behind the Wards like she did Bellatrix. But that was mostly a stop-gap measure and what she had in mind to protect Bellatrix from the long arm of the law, wasn't something she could bring herself to do against her own son. Against the Dark Lord, there was no real defence other then hiding and in that, even the Wards wouldn't hold up forever. She did have her old hide-out from the first rise of Voldemort, a little secret that not even Lucius or Bellatrix had been aware of. She had snuck into the master bedroom and turned Harry's wedding band into a Portkey which she could activate if the Dark Lord came calling. She herself had one of her earrings and her own wedding band charmed the same way. The small cottage in Cornwall had been under a Fidelius Charm since before she married Lucius, Narcissa herself was the Secret Keeper and she had never let anyone else know about it, so it would serve as a decent hiding place for a short amount of time if there was an emergency.

Draco might be trusted to hide there, but she knew him. He didn't cope well with being locked up and would go out to explore sooner rather then later, no matter what she told him. It was unlikely that the Dark Lord had his underlings whisking about the Cornish countryside counting sheep or whatnot, but there was a chance that the Ministry might be able to track him down if he left the cottage. Oh, if that stupid boy only hadn't allowed himself to get caught up with the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters like Lucius. When Harry had informed her that Draco had killed the Creevy brothers, she had cried herself to sleep.

She hadn't had any real contact with the Creevy boys' mother since Hogwarts and hardly any there either. She had been one of the few Squibs accepted into the special training program, which cropped up from time to time to fill future gaps in the workforce and had been active while Narcissa attended her last six years at Hogwarts. While Squibs couldn't do magic with wands, nothing prevented them from mixing Potions, caring for magical creatures, farming herbs or doing research, so Squibs in the special training program studied Care for Magical Creatures, Herbology, History, Potions and attended special purely theoretical classes in the remaining subjects apart from the rest of the school.

She hadn't come across the woman since Hogwarts, so she either worked outside of Diagon Alley or had gone Muggle after her time in Hogwarts.

"I... I didn't want to do it." Draco mumbled, looking away with an anguished expression.

"I know, honey... I know..." Narcissa replied, hugging him again, stroking the back of his head, running her fingers through her hair. "I'm going to do everything I can do to clear your name, Harry promised to help out as well." Narcissa added.

"Potter! What's going on, why did you marry *him*?!" Draco exclaimed at the brutal reminder that his mother had done something that was utterly ridiculously crazy and by far beyond even the worst of his occasional nightmares! Potter and his mother? He felt like throwing up every single meal he'd ever eaten and squirmed in her hug, not quite as willing to be near her now when he was reminded that she was fucking married to Bloody Harry Ruddy Potter!

"He's the new Lord Black, Earl Potter-Black actually." Narcissa replied, deciding that Draco didn't need to know about the Oath of Loyalty business. It'd just upset him even further and due to her actions, it was no longer an issue anyway as Harry had no control whatsoever over her any longer. "Being married to him gives me the sort of power and clout I've always wanted to have." she said instead.

"But... It's Potter?!" Draco snarled, as if that simple statement explained every single problem he had with the current situation.

"He's young, easy to manipulate and by far a kinder man then your father ever was. I've got him wrapped around my little finger." Narcissa replied and smiled. "When I'm Minister of Magic pardoning you for your crimes will be no bother, but until then you will have to hide." she added.

"But... Potter!" Draco spluttered. "He's a clueless bumbling fool, a goody two-shoes half-blooded nitwit!"

"He's got a ways to go, yes." Narcissa replied with a faint sigh. "But that only makes it easier for me to control him."

"Where is that bastard? I want to give him a piece of my mind!" Draco declared and she absently wondered if he was about to chew froth, or if that was just her imagination. She truly wished that her son could have been this passionate about more important things then insulting his school rival, but she had high hopes that he would be a much better man the next time she saw him. Lucius hadn't lived up to his potential, but his cousin Philippe certainly had. Instead of bowing and simpering in front of another, he had left during the Dark Lords first rise and truly made something out of himself abroad. With a fear years of Philippe showing Draco the ropes, he'd hopefully pick up on how a real Malfoy should be acting.

"He's away visiting one of his despicable Muggleborn friends." Narcissa lied, knowing fully well that Harry and Tonks were waiting in the kitchen, most likely listening in on the conversation.

"Granger." Draco snorted dismissively. "Now get me out of here!" he demanded, tugging on his bonds.

"I'm sorry, Draco." Narcissa said and her expression twisted with real sadness. "Your cousin Nymphadora will be taking you out of the country, you'll have to bear with it for a while longer. Just a while longer, honey."

"That filthy spawn of a useless traitor!" Draco exclaimed.

Harry gave Tonks a comforting pat on her shoulder, as she stewed in the kitchen, resolving to get Draco back for that remark before the end of the day. Harry was used to Draco insulting him and besides, for whatever reason, the acidic words just washed off him like water off a goose at the moment. /Bigger fish to fry, I guess.../ he mentally sighed. With Narcissa to deal with and Voldemort to worry about, Draco had gone from annoying pain in the arse, to not even being worthy of his notice. In the past, he guessed he would have been quite riled up by Draco, but now he focused more on what Narcissa was saying, wondering how much of what she said was true and how much was just acting on Draco's behalf.

"Don't speak about my sister that way." Narcissa reprimanded Draco, who flinched as if he'd been slapped. "Now that your worthless father isn't around to pollute you with his stupidity, there's no reason for you to become as big a failure as he turned out to be."

"Father was a great man!" Draco snapped, causing Narcissa to shake her head.

"Your father was a coward who always took the easy way out. Whimpering and cowering in front of a raving maniac, instead of proudly stepping forth and becoming the leader he was born to be. Instead of a great leader, he became a simpering follower." Narcissa informed Draco, who gaped like a fish at her harsh statements. "He could have been magnificent, I certainly hoped he would be when we first married, but instead he squandered all his potential for nothing and I don't want you to repeat his mistakes. You're the last of the British Malfoys now, Draco. You have a great name, so always ensure that you live up to your noble heritage."

"I am! I do!" Draco insisted.

"The Sorting Hat put you in Slytherin for a reason, Draco. You obviously have the potential to be great, but so far you haven't been. I'm hoping that some time on your own, will mature you and give you an opportunity to grow beyond what you are now." she responded and offered him a faint smile. "When you can come back to England again, perhaps you truly will be great."

"Where am I going?" Draco sullenly asked.

"Morocco. One of your fathers cousins, Philippe, is living there and runs a very successful business venture there." Narcissa replied.

"Philippe is a mobster! I can't consort with those kinds of people!" Draco protested, outraged at the mere suggestion.

"You're a wanted man now, Draco. Your options are few." she argued. "Philippe has agreed to hide you from both the law and the Dark Lord. He will also be teaching you some very valuable lessons to help you on the way to becoming a true Slytherin, as opposed to the mock likeness of one that your entire generation of Slytherins seems to have wound up as."

"We are not!" he claimed indignantly.

"Just look at your two oaf minions!" Narcissa argued. "Can you honestly say that either one of them are sly, cunning or ambitious? Stupid, ignorant and slovenly is what they are. The rest of you are just as bad from what I've seen. Rash, brash and impatient, it's like watching a bunch of little wannabe Gryffindors!" she continued and shook her head. "Did you know that I spent three years pretending to be a friend of Clarisse Blackheart? I studied with her, I gave her gifts, we gossiped together, confided in each other and promised to name our firstborn girls after each other. Did you know why? So she'd never see my revenge for going out on a date with the boy I fancied back then coming. Three years, Draco. Three years I spent pretending to be her best friend, before I got my revenge on her. I hear you can't even ignore Potter for more then a minute or two, before you turn just as rash as a raving Gryffindor."

"But..." Draco protested, only to trail off under his mothers disappointed gaze.

"Like I said, your entire generation is false Slytherins. You've become faux Gryffindors, not true Snakes." she sniffed.

"She's got a point." Tonks mumbled to Harry in the kitchen. "What you've got now, are ignorant babies compared to how it used to be. When I was a first and second year, the Slytherins were *nasty*. After that, things went downhill for them."

"Good riddance." Harry grunted.

"It certainly made things easier in the later years at school, that's for sure." she absently agreed, while secretly plotting how she would be getting back at Draco. 'Accidentally' tripping against him a couple of times, slamming him headfirst into a wall or some such was probably a better way to go about it then the Castration Curse, though the latter was awfully tempting at the moment.

In fact, unless she remembered incorrectly, that curse wasn't even illegal in some parts of the world. Perhaps some sort of Portkey mishap might 'accidentally' put them into one of those countries on their way to Morocco. In fact, wasn't that one of the places where it was legal? Tonks wondered if she had time to find it out before activating the international Portkey.

Harry carefully edged a little bit away from Tonks once she started chuckling under her breath, her eyes gleaming with the same shimmer his own did when thinking about strangling Narcissa. A little quirky half-smile on her lips also served to remind him of Bellatrix Lestrange.

He wasn't sure what was going on in that head of hers and he was quite certain that he didn't want to know either.

/Definitively something that runs in the family.../ he thought, thinking of Tonks, Narcissa and Bellatrix, all three of which he now saw more of then Ron and Hermione put together since the end of term. Granted, he hadn't seen Ron at all, but he was planning on changing that. Even in spite of all the crazy shit that had taken place since he had taken a chance then foolishly believed that he could let Narcissa off the leash as much as he had, he still had more freedom this summer then ever before. Visiting Hermione had been somewhat of a necessity, as he didn't dare let Narcissa in on what he wanted to look up in case she pulled one over on him again, but he wasn't planning on letting Ron out of the loop either, even if he wasn't quite sure what his current relationship with the Weasley family was right now, after Narcissa had gotten them into trouble.

But if their relationship had survived Ron's betrayal back in fourth year, when he believed that Harry had signed himself up for the Tri-Wizard in spite of what Harry was claiming, then this shouldn't be a showstopper either.

* * *

After Tonks left with Draco, tripping and pushing him knee-first into the living room table as their final act before Portkeying out, Harry withdrew to his room to stay away from Bellatrix. He was seated in his comfy couch with a cold Butterbeer from the wet bar and absently reading one of the naughty books that had been provided for him.

Even if his goal was still to get out of having to consummate the marriage, the knowledge contained in the books could still be of use at some point in his life. While Narcissa talked things over with Draco, he and Tonks had shared a private whispered conversation of their own in the kitchen. At one point, Tonks had given him an incredible generous offer of marriage to her and he was now quite seriously considering it.

If he stayed away from Narcissa, their marriage would be dissolved and he could then marry Tonks instead.

Of course, if he had known about the fact that Narcissa had littered the place with spying Charms, the two of them might not have wanted to have that particular conversation right there.

He looked up from his book at a familiar knock on the door, debating with himself if he really wanted to see his 'wife' at the moment, before he shrugged and decided to see what she wanted.

"Come in." he called and Narcissa pushed the door open with her left hip, her hands being busy with a tray of tea and steaming scones straight from the kitchen.

"Tea?" she offered and Harry quickly nodded, almost salivating at the sight of fresh scones. It wasn't until he came to Hogwarts that he'd ever been allowed such a thing as freshly baked anything and his intense delight at such treats had never really faded or lessened in the slightest. Narcissa looked around the room for a while, then simply shrugged and seated herself next to him on the couch, before pouring tea and buttering scones for the two of them, while the tray hovered majestically in the air.

Harry instantly dug in, while Narcissa did so at a slower pace and more sedate manner.

Harry was down two cups and four scones, while Narcissa was still on her first of both, when he started noticing that something was slightly off.

Every time the two of them accidentally made contact in the small couch, Harry felt a brief flash of warmth and he slowly started to take note of the fact that it was growing progressively harder to keep his eyes off his wife. He was feeling hot and flushed. His breathing was somewhat erratic and now when he thought about it, he realized that his heart was beating a lot faster then it should. He gasped and a half-eaten scone suddenly dropped from his mouth and the cup of tea fell from suddenly lifeless fingers.

"You've poisoned me, haven't you?" he suddenly croaked in a faint tone of voice as he wondered just how long he had left to live.

"Don't be ridiculous, Harry. I have a vested interest in you remaining healthy and I am eating and drinking the same things you are." Narcissa replied while under her husbands close scrutiny. She seemed artfully innocent, although the faint full-body flush creeping through the Wizarding makeup she used was starting to become more noticeable by the second.

So he wasn't the only one feeling the effects of whatever it was.

"What did you put in it?" he asked, his gaze once again going to her slender neck, only this time the desire to kiss it was stronger then his desire to choke her. As sure a sign as anything, that something odd was going on!

"I laced the tea with a Potion to lower inhibitions and the scones with a fairly effective lust Potion." she admitted without hesitation, then took another hearty sip from her own tea, seemingly uncaring about what she had just admitted was in it. "I heard you and Nymphadora, you know. Until she decided to stuff her big nose where it isn't wanted, I was content to wait for you to become ready. But it's growing increasingly more apparent to me, that you won't be ready in time and might even try to weasel your way out of this marriage." she continued and daintily finished the last of her scone, then calmly refilled her tea.

"You set off quite the series of events when you decided to use that despicable Oath of Loyalty on me, events which has moved me up to near the top of the Dark Lords list of most hated enemies. If you think that I was going to let you get out of this marriage at this point or any other, you're dead wrong, Harry." she added and smiled over at him. "One way or the other, this marriage will be consummated before the sun goes down today."

"No. Bloody. Way." Harry snapped off in response. While he did feel incredibly strange, it seemed that anger was more then enough to hold off from doing anything stupid because of what his own bloody *wife* had tricked him into consuming.

"Finite incantem." Narcissa mumbled with a simple Wandless gesture at her shoulders, which caused the sticking charms that held together the straps of her white dress to cease working. Harry gasped as the top of her gown slowly slid down to pool around her waist, revealing a creamy white lacy brassiere covering shapely mounds. Narcissa was still quite calmly sipping her tea, not even looking at him at the moment.

"Whagarhnobruddywayer!" Harry eloquently protested, not even quite sure in the privacy of his own mind just what it was he was attempting to get out.

"Finite incantem." Narcissa mumbled and gestured at her waist with her left hand, then slowly pulled her dress apart, pushing it off her legs and waist, revealing a pair of white lacy high-cut panties that matched her brassiere. Now she did glace aside at Harry and smiled at his expression. "Another scone, dear?" she asked and plucked one off the tray, offering it to him with a victorious smile.

Harry was silent for a few long seconds, then suddenly darted forward and ate the scone while it was still held in her hands, then started licking and suckling her fingers once the scone was gone.

Narcissa gasped and dropped her half-finished cup of inhibition-lowering tea in surprise at the sensations he evoked in her, wondering just what the hell was going on. The scones were laced with a lust Potion, that much was true. But not a huge amount of it, because then it might have given off a noticeable taste. She'd only had one scone, certainly not enough for him to bring out this sort of reaction from her.

But every time he touched her hand, every time his tongue flickered across her palm, every time he sucked one of her fingers into his mouth, it felt like somebody had used a bolt lightening spell to hot-wire her libido.

She blinked as she realized that it had felt almost as good when he fingered her scar last night, how pleasurable what few brief kisses they had shared since she changed the OoL were and that's when she understood what was going on. 'Being with Harry Potter-Black in a sexual manner is always a pleasurable experience for you, as any pleasure resulting from a sensual touch by him is magically enhanced.' was one of the things she had written on her Oath of Loyalty before destroying it.

She hadn't expected to get much out of the initial relations to her young husband. After all, he was a young inexperienced teenager even if she hadn't expected him to be a complete virgin, so she had taken measures to assure that she would get something out of it in spite of the general ineptitude she expected from him at first.

Well, at the time, she hadn't quite counted on just how much his touch would be enhanced. But it was now clear beyond any reasonable doubt to her, that Harry Potter was one of the most magically powerful beings in the world!

The Charm she had in mind when she formulated that sentence, increased pleasure at an order of magnitude directly corresponding to the power of the participants. She was moderately powerful herself, well above average for a Pure-blooded Witch in her prime, though not quite as powerful as Bellatrix.

She had imagined that Harry was fairly powerful considering his parents and in spite of all the degrading comments from Draco in the past. After all, he had gotten through the Tri-Wizard Tournament and he certainly didn't do that by being extremely skilled. But 'fairly powerful' had obviously been a gross understatement, as even touches as simple as these very nearly proved to be her undoing. She'd used Charm she had in mind when writing that part on Lucius once and he too was moderately strong, well above average, but even full-blown penetration from him hadn't resulted in this big an effect on her. So an affect as great as this one from something fairly minor, was clear proof that Harry possessed a very impressive magical core. She silently resolved to test him at some point, just to see how powerful he actually was.

When his attention shifted from her hand and he started kissing and licking his way up her arm, closer to her face, she damn well nearly whimpered and bolted from the room, as she was starting to wonder if she would be able to handle anything more intense then what she was currently feeling.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Harry reached out with his right hand and put it around her waist, locking her in place.

/Oh, dear!/ Narcissa mentally fretted as Harry pulled her up against him and sealed his lips to hers. /I may not have planned this one out quite as well as I first thought.../ was the last coherent thought she had in quite a while.

The End! ( For now... )


	14. Chapter 14

Black Heir [R]  
By Hawk

Summary: This is the Hawk-style version of the heavily overused Harry-gets-a-letter-from-dead-Sirius plotline and stuff happens due to this. Hopefully a good read in spite of this boring premise...

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, Hogwarts and whatnot are not mine, though I certainly wish they were. The story is mine though, all mine.

Feedback/Flames: Yes, please. Both of them are equally fun to read, although I must admit that I greatly prefer the first variety. :)  
I can be found at iamhawk at yahoo dot com, though not very frequently as real life lately interferes with my online existance more then I'd like.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen:

/I'm not a virgin!/ was Harry's very first thought upon returning to consciousness, a thought that caused his eyes to instantly snap open. He gazed blurrily out at his surroundings, squinting in an attempt to better make things out without his glasses, which he noted was not lying in their customary spot on the bedside table.

His clothes were scattered over, next to and in front of the couch where they had started, the silver tray of tea and scones still floating in the air. He was actually fairly impressed by that, as Charms didn't tend to last all that long unless the caster was powerful enough to put a lot of oomph into their spellwork. His glasses were likely over there somewhere, as he faintly recalled having removed them while they were still on the couch.

Papers had fallen off his desk along with the pile of his Dobby-provided reading material and Harry blushed as he recalled that they had christened his desk after they'd moved off the couch and first done it up against one of the walls on the way to the desk. He looked to his side and spotted Narcissa lying flat on her stomach, her head sideways on the pillow and with her mouth wide open. A faint trickle of saliva trailing down to the pillow where a noticeable wet spot marked that she had likely been resting like that for quite a while. The makeup she had worn was smeared in places, had run off almost entirely in others and her scar stood out quite clearly at the moment. He faintly remembered having licked it and almost getting slapped for it, having caught Narcissa's wrist right before she hit him.

He dimly recalled that their last sexual act of the night had been right where she now slept. She'd been on her stomach and he'd been on top, drilling into her from above and almost violently pushing her into the soft surface of the bed. After he'd finished, he'd simply rolled off his then unconscious wife, dragged the covers over her and collapsed on the other side of the bed, succumbing to sleep very nearly the moment he lied down. Apparently, he'd managed to pull the covers over himself in his sleep.

"Finite incantem." he muttered with a tired wave of his hand at his nether regions, cancelling the stamina Charm he'd hit himself with after their first coupling, when the Bond had settled and made such a thing possible. He let out a sigh of relief, not only at the fact that he actually managed to do that without a wand, but also because it provided a certain relief in his nether region which felt extremely sore and abused at the moment. Rather sticky as well truth to be told, as neither of them had the energy to spare for clean-up before succumbing to sleep.

Their first romp on the couch had been great, although disappointedly short. He'd climaxed inside her less then fifteen seconds after first penetration. What had greatly surprised him, was that Narcissa hadn't lasted much longer then that before she came as well and she certainly didn't strike him like a person who'd fake something like that to stroke his ego. His memory was a bit hazy, but after he had erupted she kept on riding him but it couldn't have been for more then at the very most a minute or so before she had climaxed as well.

With the stamina Charm up, the second coupling, also on the couch, had been significantly longer. After that, he'd taken her up against the wall. Following that, she'd dragged him over to the desk, impatiently swept it clear of its current clutter, jumped up on it and pulled him between her legs. After the desk, another coupling on the floor on the way to the bed and following that, the final one on top of the bed.

Harry flushed as he recalled the sequence of events and found that even without the stamina Charm active, he was stiffening up again. He shifted somewhat and let out a loud groan as his body protested against moving, letting him know that today would be a very uncomfortable day unless he used a numbing Potion or Charm. He was sore all over and judging from the horrible itch on his chest, he had correctly remembered that Narcissa had drawn blood there with her sharp nails during the coupling on top of the desk.

With a few pained whimpers he managed to throw the covers aside and stumble off towards the couch, where he recovered his glasses after a bit of bleary-eyed searching. His glasses recovered, he staggered off towards the bathroom without care of his current nude state. He just wanted a shower, as he felt quite grungy and was covered with faintly sticky crusted evidence of the events of last evening and the better part of the night. Once they were done, he just hadn't been able to muster the energy to clean up and that was quite obviously evident right now.

After a long hot shower, he staggered back towards the master bedroom when he heard loud cursing and hollers from Narcissa's bedroom.

/Bellatrix.../ he realized and his mood darkened.

"What?!" he snapped and poked his head inside the door, leaving his nude body on the outside.

"Potter, you miserable shit! Get me out of here and let me go to the bloody bathroom before I have an accident right here!" the paralyzed witch screamed from the extra bed from the guest room Narcissa had ordered the elves to put in her bedroom for the time being.

"Oh." he muttered as he realized that Bellatrix must had been petrified in bed since last evening and judging from the light emerging from the windows, it was closer to midday then morning. "I'll be right back." he said and pulled his head back.

"Seriously Potter, I need to go right fucking now!" Bellatrix protested at his departure, but Harry ignored her as he headed for his room where he pulled on a pair of old track pants and threw on a t-shirt. He usually hated Dudley's old castoffs, but at the moment he felt grateful for the roomy quality of clothes several sizes too large for him. It took a bit of work to find his wand, but he eventually recovered it from the floor at the couch, where it had been discarded last evening. Cancelling his own stamina charm without it was one thing, but getting Bellatrix mobile again would likely require the use of his wand.

Dressed and with his wand in hand, he levitated Bellatrix into the bathroom and unpetrified her, before closing the door behind her as Bellatrix had started heading for the toilet while moving her nightclothes out of the way the very second she was able to move, in spite of the fact that Harry was watching. The loud relived groan she emitted through the door was quite telling as to exactly how dire her need to pee had really been.

"And remember the fucking Silencing Charm in the future! I don't want to listen to you two perverts shagging like mad rabbits all night ever again!" Bellatrix howled after a few seconds of tinkling so loud that Harry could hear it through the closed door.

Harry blushed again and felt like sinking through the ground in embarrassment.

"Oh, god. She *heard* us..." he croaked under his breath, but apparently not quietly enough. Bellatrix must have ears like a bat!

"Of course I heard you, you stinking arsehole!" she snapped. "Oh, Narcissa! Do it! Do it! Faster! Faster! Ride me! RiiiiIiiiiide me!" Bellatrix imitated him through the door.

"I do not sound like that!" Harry squeaked in protest.

"Oh! That feels SO gooOoooD! Come here, up against the wall this time!" Bellatrix continued from inside and Harry glared at the door. If he hadn't still heard her filling the bowl with what sounded like a life-time's worth of urine, he would have blasted the door off the hinges and cut her tongue out.

"I can't wait to get my hands on your Oath of Loyalty after the will reading tomorrow!" Harry snarled at the door. "You'll bloody rue the day you were born after I'm done with you!" he snapped and slammed his left fist against the closed door.

Peals of laughter interspersed with mad cackling were the only response and Harry felt his blood boiling, hitting the door once again.

Then the door hit him back, shooting open and slamming him backwards as something heavy, likely Bellatrix, hit it from the other side. He thumped into the wall and dropped his wand, which he scrambled for only to be thrown back into the wall as Bellatrix shot out from the bathroom in a mad rush and executed a perfect flying tackle at him.

The two of them wound up on the floor and Harry grunted in pain as Bellatrix got him with a nasty right hook, which she followed up by ramming her left elbow into his throat. Harry wheezed through his abused throat as he started fighting back, but it became blatantly obvious pretty darn quick that he was no match for Bellatrix in unarmed fighting.

She fought like a demented alley cat even without her wand, her tiny little fists hitting him over and over. But even worse were her knees and elbows which she used with pin-point precision and surprising force considering the fact that she had spent more then a decade in Azkaban. He got in a few hits as well, but Bellatrix hardly seemed to notice them. Her hits on the other hand certainly grabbed his attention by the short and curlies, every single one of them striking areas that either made it hard for him to breathe, hard to move, was incredibly painful or a combination of two or all three.

"Nasty evil wicked witch must not harm the Great Harry Potter!" a squeaky voice from the side interjected and that was likely all that saved Harry from being pummelled to death by the bare hands of his sister-in-law. Bellatrix was thrown off Harry and slammed up against the wall, where she found herself stuck and unable to move as Dobby sealed her to the wall, before he darted over to Harry and started fussing over him. Winky popped into existence and waved Dobby off, as she deftly started doing what she could for her injured master, being more experienced with that sort of thing then Dobby, who reluctantly gave way and allowed Winky to help the Great Harry Potter.

"You insane bitch!" Harry snarled in a strained wheeze at Bellatrix and struggled to get up, only to find himself held down by his two house elves. Though they didn't have to apply much force as he hurt all over, could hardly breathe and everything got much worse by him trying to move.

"Master Harry must not move." Winky admonished him and Harry too found himself unable to get off the ground as Winky started healing what most likely were a couple of cracked ribs.

"I'll ruddy neuter you, boy!" Bellatrix growled from the wall as a bleary-eyed and extremely nude Narcissa shot out from the master bedroom with her wand in hand. She took one look at the proceedings, apparently decided matters were in hand, then gingerly stalked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut without saying anything. A loud indignant exclamation about 'idiots incapable of flushing' emerged from inside, before the toilet flushed. A minute later, it flushed again and Narcissa called out through the door where Harry was being helped back to his feet after Winky had done what she could for his injuries.

"Elves, leave my sister where she is and bring Harry in here." she ordered and Harry was hastily brought into the bathroom against his spluttering attempts at a protest as Narcissa was tossing back a mouth-wash potion, then spat it out after swishing it through her mouth for a while. She then put the bottle to Harry's lips and tilted it back. He tried to swish it around as well, but twitched violently and spat it out into the sink as it stung like hell when it came into contact with some sort of internal wound from his recent fight. "Shower, now." Narcissa ordered, then kissed him almost violently while she started yanking on his t-shirt and pushing his track pants down.

Harry's protests instantly died as Narcissa claimed his lips with hers and forced her tongue into his mouth. His clothes were off soon enough and the married couple was soon having passionate relations while being pelted by hot water from the shower. Harry crashed to the wet tiles as he came, unable to remain on his feet and Narcissa followed him down, riding him to her own completion a minute later which had been a simultaneous pleasurable and painful experience for Harry who cursed the oversensitivity of his still erect organ and the mangled sensation afflicting the rest of his body.

He remained sitting there, too tired to move, as Narcissa rose and washed herself off without saying a word or shooing him out. He was too dazed to talk or do anything really, so he just sat there and attempted to get his breath back as she unabashedly cleaned every nook and cranny of her body, though most of her time was spent taking care of her luxurious hair.

He didn't know for how long he'd been sitting there before Narcissa left without a word, wrapping herself in towels and picking up her wand from the sink as she went.

He didn't know for how long he remained sitting there in the shower after she left either, but by the time he finally got back onto his feet and left, Bellatrix had been removed from the wall, all traces of their fight erased, he had new clothes put out for him and the scent of an extremely late breakfast or perhaps early lunch reminded him that he was hungry enough to eat a whole cow on his own. For once, he felt like he could challenge Ron, Dudley and even Vernon to an eating contest and actually make it an even fight.

"Good morning." Narcissa finally greeted him as he entered the kitchen and slumped into his seat. She apparently had found the time to get dressed and put her makeup back on while he was dazed in the bathroom. The virgin-white gown seemed oddly fitting on her, in spite of the fact that she most certainly wasn't a virgin. Though she had been for their first coupling, so he guessed that she had used that Charm to restore her 'innocence' she'd mentioned earlier and he'd read about a couple of times since then in various books.

"Morning." he grunted and started loading his plate with food. "Why?" he demanded.

"Like I've already told you, I won't let you or anyone else break up this marriage. Now it's consummated and our Bond established, so no escaping for you on a little technicality." she replied and daintily bit into a croissant, chewing thoughtfully on it for a few moments before swallowing. "After your fighting woke me up and a call of nature had been answered, well..." she started, but actually blushed and averted her eyes from him. "I felt like it." she muttered in acute embarrassment.

Last night had been... Good. When screams and sounds of a fight had woken her up, she'd wandlessly summoned her wand and stormed out of the master bedroom prepared for the worst, only to find the situation already in hand, so she'd dealt with the acute need to relieve herself which she hadn't even been aware of up until then. When that was dealt with, she'd discovered that while she was absolutely famished and still incredibly sore from their earlier activities, she felt like, no, actually *needed*, more.

There had been a few covert boyfriends at Hogwarts, but she had successfully retained all her virginities up until her wedding night with Lucius. Relations between the two of them had been decent and quite frequent in the beginning, right up until she became pregnant with Draco. During her pregnancy there had been no sex at all as Lucius felt that was quite revolting even if she had suffered from quite strong urges on occasion, but she had swayed Lucius into the occasional snogging and cuddling session which had been a pitiful replacement, but was all she could talk him into and as such, what she had to settle for.

After Lucius had the precious male Heir that he so desired, sex had become rare and far between occasions, even if it still happened. As Lucius got further and further from his sexual prime and she came nearer and nearer to her own, this became a point of occasional frustration, but she had remained the picture-perfect little loyal housewife that Lucius wanted.

Finding a lover had been out of the question, Lucius would never had stood for that if he'd gotten wind of it and with a Heir already born, she knew that she would have been cast out of the family or even worse, killed, if he'd ever found out that she'd been with someone else.

She was still in her sexual prime now and thanks to the somewhat lengthened life-span she enjoyed as a witch, likely had a few years remaining of it. And now she was married to a young man who had a few years yet to enter his prime, which wasn't an entirely undesirable situation. Especially not considering that her little miscalculation with the OoL had such a great and unexpected effect on her. Somewhat of a blessing in disguise, that. Harry's first performance had been rather below expectations, seeing as she had to move quickly after she'd found out about what he was plotting with Nymphadora.

But that command she'd given herself, coupled with the fact that Harry was extraordinarily powerful as a wizard, resulted in an extremely enjoyable encounter after all. The stamina Charm he'd wandlessly used once the Bond was established, that... She blushed even further. Relations with Lucius had *never* been like that! She'd had angry sex before, but it was only now that she fully realized just what had some of her friends raving about it from time to time.

Harry had been furious with her for drugging him, but those very drugs in combination with his teenaged hormones had channelled that fury into passion and enthusiasm. She had been surprised when he took a stranglehold on her while drilling her on top of his desk, but had been way beyond caring beyond mentally applauding his unexpected initiative and highly surprising kink, as she incredibly enough found that she enjoyed it too. She had very nearly blacked out from lack of oxygen, but he had eased up his hold in time. She absently stroked the bite marks and bruises from his hands now concealed beneath layers of makeup.

Lucius had been a buttman, through and through. Fondling, groping, slapping, kissing, licking, staring, whatever involved her shapely behind pleased him. She'd spent a fair bit of time going up and down the stairs in Malfoy manor carrying books from the downstairs library to her rooms upstairs, keeping it in excellent shape over the years. It was one of the sharpest weapons in her arsenal for the war of dominance in the Malfoy household and only a complete moron went into battle with dulled weapons. And Narcissa was certainly no moron, so she had become intimately familiar with the stairs around Malfoy manor which kept her rear in excellent shape.

Harry appeared to have quite the thing for necks and throats. Strangling, biting, kissing, licking... She applauded it, her neck was one of her most erogenous zones outside the more obvious ones and his borderline obsession with it had been extremely satisfying, if somewhat painful at times. The biting had gone out of hand a couple of times from how she looked in the mirror before applying her makeup, but at the time it happened she'd been too distracted by other sensations to care.

"Hm." Harry grunted around a mouthful of scrambled eggs. "I should hate you forever for what you did." he added after swallowing.

"You forced me to marry you, I forced you to consummate the marriage. I should think that makes us even." Narcissa responded, capitalizing on the guilt Harry still felt over his earlier actions. He winced and huddled up in his seat, quite clearly showing that he still felt an immense amount of guilt over having used that ridiculous slip of paper to take control over her mind.

His immense capacity for empathy and that ridiculous nice-guy-syndrome were his biggest flaws, something she would have to work on to make him less vulnerable to his enemies. But while he still had them, she wasn't above ruthlessly exploiting those very flaws for her own benefit. She had the clear edge in their relationship at the moment, so clear that he wasn't even really worth mentioning as standing in her way in any sort of significant manner. But while it was enjoyable to hold all the power in their relationship thanks to his naivete and inexperience, she couldn't let him remain like that or Voldemort would walk all over him as well.

/Innocent child./ she mentally snorted. /A useful and talented one, but still a child./ she thought as she put down her cup of tea and strode over to him. A numbing Potion and one to restore flexibility to strained muscles had managed to rid her of the ungaitly waddle she'd been forced to use earlier and she was now back to using her confident hip-swaying strut. She bent down and put her hands on his shoulders, adopting her very best sweet and contrite expression.

"I'll forgive you if you'll forgive me." she offered in a warm purr as she kneaded his shoulders and carefully adopted a smiling pout she'd spent years perfecting in front of various mirrors. If it had been Lucius, she would have slid onto his lap and rubbed her rear against his legs, but while Harry had certainly been appreciative of her shapely bum, he hadn't seemed to share Lucius utter fixation with it. But leaning forward as she had, placed not only her cleavage on display, but also put her neck directly in his point of view. Harry swallowed and looked up at her, his eyes nearly glazing over as she leaned in closer to him. "Please?" she asked with a faint treble in her voice and he cracked like the breakfast eggs.

"Y-okay." he stuttered and the corners of her lips curled up into a friendly smile.

"Good. All is forgiven..." she purred and leaned in, giving him a searingly hot kiss that left him stunned and breathless as she sashayed back to her seat with a wide grin on her lips, which she carefully rid herself of before turning around and sitting down again. Truth to be told, she actually felt a little breathless herself after the kiss.

"Yeah..." he croaked, completely out of it for the moment.

Narcissa smiled and squirmed slightly in her seat. She didn't know if her currently reawakening arousal came from what she'd written on the Oath or the incredible sensation of being in power she was currently enjoying. She knew that she was a power junkie, always had been and likely always would be. She had been forced to suppress visible expressions of that during the later parts of her marriage to Lucius, as he simply didn't tolerate any sort of display of spine or free will from his wife between the two of them once it was clear that Draco would make it through his early years and he finally had the heir he so desired. Her manipulations of him had been few and had to be extremely subtle to avoid raising his ire, so she'd spent most of her time with precious little control over matters.

The fact that she was now the one who made the decisions, made her randy enough to absently consider sweeping everything off the kitchen table and ravishing Harry on top of that in spite of the fact that it was less then half an hour since their last coupling. She took a deep breath and reined those feelings in, ruthlessly suppressing them for now. There were things to accomplish today and nothing would be done if she spent the entire day testing just how much mileage it was possible to get from a young husband under enough stamina Charms to raise somebody from the dead.

It was something to consider for some lazy day up ahead however. Preferably before Harry went back to school at the end of summer.

* * *

It had been a busy couple of days for the newlyweds.

The captured rookie Death Eaters with the new Ministry policy of holding swift trials had pushed both the Dumbledore and Weasley trials to later dates. Even the goblins had been kept busy, so Sirius will reading had been delayed as well. As suspected, Tonks had been given the option of either losing her job as an Auror or being forced off the Order. She'd quit her job for the Ministry and officially accepted her employment as bodyguard for the Potter-Blacks.

He'd told Tonks how Narcissa had drugged him into consummating their marriage and she'd admitted to both being disappointed and relieved at the fact that the two of them were now irrevocably married to one another and that there was no need for her to marry him any longer. She had made the offer, but was honestly glad that she hadn't been required to follow through on it. While she did find him adorable and privately admitted to somewhat of a crush on him, she most certainly hadn't truly felt ready for marriage.

He had ended that day by visiting Hermione and telling her about recent events and Bellatrix's upcoming life as a slave to Narcissa. It had been a tense meeting and Hermione had struggled between sympathy and anger for most of it. It had been a curious mix of admonishments, rants about the ethics of slavery, empathic statements and multiple 'told you so', which had left Harry more confused then he was when he first arrived.

Fistfang had produced a choker, anklets and bracelets and preformed some Goblin magic with the blood of both Narcissa and Bellatrix to create some sort of master/slave-bond between the two of them. Bellatrix had been quite furious about that and refused to cooperate with the traditional mutually agreed upon semi-magical ritual that would establish the bond between master and slave, so Narcissa had reluctantly preformed another one which had been used to enslave prisoners of war back in the Dark Ages.

It involved beating Bellatrix and forcing the slave gear onto her, which had left Narcissa a crying mess for the remainder of that day and since her feelings of guilt and despair transferred to Bellatrix through her new permanent accessories, Bellatrix had been in a right state as well in addition to being in incredible amounts of pain as the injuries received during her enslavement couldn't be magically healed for a full twenty-four hours after her enslavement.

Harry had spent the rest of that day comforting his crying wife until she finally fell asleep and he had then reluctantly tended to Bellatrix afterwards. The bruised and battered woman had been crying both due to her pain and the sensations she received from Narcissa, causing Harry to take pity on her in spite of his immense hatred for her. He couldn't use his magic or potions to heal her injuries, but Muggle means to aid and relieve them hadn't been mentioned, so he used that loophole to do whatever little he could for Bellatrix.

Today had been just as eventful. The moment the twenty-four hours were up, Narcissa had healed Bellatrix and then admitted to Harry that she had kept a few things from him. Since Bellatrix was now property, she was permanently beyond the reach of the Wizarding Legal System and would never again see the inside of Azkaban, unless she was there as a visitor.

Harry had been furious, but had to admit in the privacy of his own mind that he'd given Narcissa permission to do whatever she could to lessen her sisters punishment. He'd just never expected her to succeed to this degree.

Another thing was that now when Bellatrix was a slave to Narcissa, the Oath of Loyalty wouldn't function any longer and left Harry without a way to use that to get back at Bellatrix in some horribly embarrassing and/or painful manner, which had been one of the things Narcissa had promised him in return for allowing Bellatrix to stay! Sure, he could still write whatever the fuck he wanted, but it wouldn't have any effect whatsoever as the Slave Bond was more powerful then the Oath of Loyalty.

At least the Slave Bond had rendered the Dark Mark inert as well and it was now nothing more then an exceptionally ugly tattoo, which was the sole positive thing about that entire mess.

Harry had stewed in silent fury while Father Creed had confirmed the marriage bond and now the two of them were waiting for the reading of Sirius will, Harry still stewing and angrily flipping through a magazine while Narcissa spoke with a reporter from the Prophet for an article about her sisters enslavement. The reporter had requested an interview about married life from them as well, but the murderous look from Harry at the question had made him instantly drop that particular issue like an extremely hot potato.

Narcissa was still talking with the reporter when Harry suddenly noticed that he had company. He glanced to his left and noticed that an incredibly stately woman had seated herself in the seat next to his, crossed her left leg over her right and rested a small purse in her lap. He mentally shrugged, greeted her with a small nod and then went back to the magazine he was trying to get interested in while waiting.

"Well, Mr Potter-Black. How is life married to my sister treating you?" the woman suddenly interrupted and he blinked, before looking up and glancing at her again. /Tonks mother, Andromeda./ he realized from her words as he looked her over. Now when he looked at her more closely, he found it completely understandable how he hadn't recognized her as related to Tonks, as the two of them were nothing alike. But how he could have missed just how obviously related to both Narcissa and Bellatrix she was, was another matter entirely.

The colour of her hair reminded him strongly of Bellatrix, though Andromeda had quite obviously cared for hers a whole lot better over the years, as its shimmering lustre reminded more of Narcissa's deeply cared for tresses then Bellatrix unruly mess of hair. Her slender features and high cheekbones were eerily reminiscent of Narcissa, though the nose and the curving of her jaw reminded him more of Bellatrix. She was taller then both Narcissa and Bellatrix, almost a full head taller then Narcissa he guessed even if it was hard to tell now when she was sitting down.

She had kept in shape, from the look of things. She was wearing an open Wizarding robe in a deep blue with sky-blue trimmings, but underneath it she wore simple jeans and a white blouse. He tried to find something in her that reminded him of Tonks, but failed miserably. Woman and daughter were as different as strawberries and pineapples. Or how Tonks appeared most of the time was as different from her mother at any rate, he wasn't quite sure how the Auror really looked without the benefits of her Talent.

"Mrs Andromeda Tonks?" he asked and she nodded. He rose and held out his hand in greeting. She rose as well and daintily placed her hand in his, held in a manner that made it quite clear that she expected it kissed, not shaken. He clumsily did so, an act which felt incredibly awkward and unnatural. Then she surprised him by offering him a small smile and shaking his hand, it was only in that smile which he recognized something of Tonks in her. "Pleased to meet you." he offered after seeing that smile and granting her one in return.

"As am I, Mr Potter-Black." she replied and seated herself again, before nodding over at Narcissa who didn't appear to have noticed her sisters arrival. "Now what is that all about, Mr Potter-Black? I don't put much faith into what sort of meaningless drivel the Prophet prints, even when backed by that flashy full-page advert you put in it, but I do read it none the less and I must say that I haven't been as surprised as I was when I saw that you had married my sister since I found out that I was pregnant with Nymphadora in spite of the potions I was on at the time."

"Well, it's complicated." Harry sighed.

"Marriages always are and seeing as how you're married to Narcissa, doubtlessly even more so." Andromeda replied with a wry expression. "Nymphadora has told me a bit about it, but I think she knows more then she's telling me and I didn't really accept what little she did tell me as being completely true. She may be capable of changing her appearance at will, but I am her mother and I know the tells when she treats the truth creatively." she explained and focused a very piercing gaze at him. "So I would really like to hear what you have to say about It." she added and Harry found himself floundering for an explanation, when salvation arrived in the form of his wife.

"Andy." Narcissa suddenly exclaimed from a little ways off, apparently having finished with the reporter. She sounded as surprised as she looked, which was a lot. "What are you doing here?"

"Sirius always did like me the most, Cissy." Andromeda responded coolly and to Harry's surprise, Narcissa actually squirmed and looked admonished under her elder sisters gaze. "It's good to see you again, Cissy." she admitted, but without any warmth in her voice.

"You too, Andy." Narcissa replied and offered up a weak smile at her sister. "Hug?" she asked and held her arms out, which caused Andromeda to blink in surprise and her jaw to drop. It took a few moments before the shock left her, but then she scrambled out of her seat and the two long-lost sisters collided in a fierce hug. "I've missed you, Andy!" Narcissa blurted out in a misty tone of voice and Harry noticed tears emerging from her tightly shut eyelids. Now that Andromeda was on her feet, he got to confirm his suspicion about her length, although she was only perhaps half a head taller then Narcissa unlike what he had first thought.

"Me too, little sister." Andromeda responded, voice rough with emotion.

"I'm sorry for not talking to you for all these years, but, well..." Narcissa apologized.

"Shhh, I understand." Andromeda replied. "I heard you met Nymphadora?" she asked.

"You must be so proud!" Narcissa exclaimed. "An Auror and a Full Metamorphagus!"

"Almost makes it worth it to have changed all those diapers and having a teenaged daughter who could change her looks at will." Andromeda admitted with a wry smile. "Dear Morgana, Cissy! Are you back? Are you back for good? We can talk again?"

"You just try and stop me!" Narcissa laughed and sniffled a bit. "You'll have more problems keeping me away now then you had when you just wanted me out of your wardrobe and away from your clothes." she giggled and Andromeda responded with a loud guffaw.

"I remember that! I damn well pleaded with mother to Ward that damned wardrobe from you more times then I'd care to remember!" Andromeda said and the two of them finally let go of the desperate hug they'd been involved in. "I'll be looking forward to a visit in the near future, Cissy."

"Rabid Grims couldn't keep me away and a herd of wild Thestrals wouldn't drag me off." Narcissa promised and fumbled for a hankie to wipe tears out of her eyes. "I'll bring Bella too." she promised, then blanched as Andromeda backed off and fumbled for her wand. "No, Andy! I promise, it's okay! She's not working for *him* anymore. She's... Well, she's not the Bella from when we were younger, but... I think it might do her good to see you again."

Andromeda glared suspiciously at Narcissa, but at least she didn't raise the wand she had drawn.

"It really is okay, Mrs Tonks." Harry said and gently put his left hand on her right wrist. Even if he was quite furious at Narcissa and hated Bellatrix with a passion, he couldn't let Andromeda attack Narcissa. "Bellatrix won't ever be going back to him, you have my word."

Andromeda glared down at his hand and Harry slowly removed it, but was prepared to reach out for her wrist again if it looked like she was about to draw her wand on Narcissa.

"On my magic, Bellatrix isn't a Death Eater any longer." he promised and Andromeda turned to look at him with a disbelieving expression. Narcissa took a few steps closer, put her hands on Harry's shoulders and nodded seriously.

"She isn't." she agreed. "Sisters honour." she added and Andromeda slowly nodded, then put her wand away. She looked between Harry and Narcissa for a few moments, then offered him a small smile.

"Having Cissy back, much because of you I suspect, gives you a bit of leeway Mr Potter-Black and I'll stop asking how it came to pass." she informed him. "But know that if you ever hurt my little sister in any way, you'll discover first-hand just why I survived the first rise of Voldemort in spite of being a 'blood traitor' from a prominent Dark Family and ranked just below Dumbledore, the Potters and the Longbottoms on the Dark Lords hit list." she said and Harry found himself both intimidated at the threat and impressed that Andromeda hadn't hesitated for even a split second before saying Voldemort out loud.

"Assuming there's anything left of me after Narcissa is finished with me." he muttered and Andromeda laughed.

"I see you have an excellent understanding of the situation, Harry." Andromeda agreed with a much friendlier disposition, even using his first name. "I am very pleased to finally meet you." she reaffirmed and then hugged him, much to his surprise. "I don't know what you did or how, but thank you." she mumbled just barely loud enough for him to hear it.

The remainder of the time until the reading was spent with Harry trying to focus on the magazine, while listening to Narcissa and Andromeda catch up on each others lives since last they had spoken.

The End! ( For now... )


End file.
